


Caring about beasts

by Dreamers_den



Series: Tales of Obscurus [1]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Caring, Credence Barebone Deserves Better, F/M, Falling In Love, Fantastic Beasts, Generation Gap, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love, M/M, No Grindelwald, Obscurus, Protective Original Percival Graves, Wandless Magic, demiguise Dougal, only mentioned Grindelwald, only original Graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9065455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamers_den/pseuds/Dreamers_den
Summary: What would happen if Grindelwald never came to New York in 1926? There would be still Obscurus on loose in New York, with real Percival Graves searching for it, finding his way to Credence. Tina would still meet Newt Scamander and the creatures from the suitcase would flee, causing even more chaos in already panicked city.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I love the movie and I want more original Percival Graves.:)

Today was a disaster. It started too early for Graves´s liking, with news about Grindelwald killing two dozens of No-Majs in Russia. It was just another bad news after a week full of stressful incidents and long shifts and Graves was secretly grateful when the briefing with Madam President ended in time for a late lunch. His hopes were crushed before he could even leave the Woolworth Building.

When they told him that the Goldstein girl, the Auror one (his one) attacked a No-Maj, he didn´t believe his ears at first.

It seemed that today could still turn even worse.

Graves strode down the halls of MACUSA, trying to focus on not blowing up every single light which he passed. On his trail, persistent as ever, was the very reason of his foul mood.

“I couldn´t just stand there, watching,” Tina – no, _Miss Goldstein_ – insisted. “Please, I did what was right, this demoting is not-”

“Enough,” he hissed under his breath, keeping his voice purposely low, despite he wanted nothing more than shout his frustration out. Goldstein, one of the most promising Aurors at his department decided that attacking a No-Maj woman in public was a perfect way how to make his day more interesting. 

As if his life was boring without that. Grindelwald´s attacks in Europe were more and more frequent and Graves knew of Dark Wizard´s sympathizers gaining numbers here in States too. The incidents were few in numbers so far, but they were getting more violent every time. Graves secretly feared the moment when the dark wizards would start attacking No-Majs like their bleached idol, but he never quite expected his trusted subordinate to outrun them. Since Tina Goldstein joined the Magical Security, she was always eager to prove herself as skilled Auror and she did the best to protect people. Graves knew why she snapped today, but with everything else going on, he couldn´t stop himself from feeling a slightly betrayed by Tina causing him troubles (and getting demoted), when he needed the reliable Aurors the most. 

Okay, maybe _was_ feeling slightly betrayed. 

Graves marched to his office, his frown dark enough to scare away any Auror who would want to vouch for Goldstein. His hands were clenched into fists in the pockets of his coat and once the door closed behind them, Graves slowly exhaled, willing himself to calm down.

Tina silently followed her boss to his office, her expression desperate. After everything she did to become an Auror, she just blows her career away by a single mistake. But what she did was right! Why no one seems to understand it?

“Please, sir, I was just trying to help-“

And that was the last drop.

“Are you even listening to yourself?!” He yelled, twisting around to face the startled witch. “It´s all I, I, I. _I thought it was a right thing to do, I don’t want to be suspended, I only wanted to help_ \- well, if you wanted to help, you shouldn´t have attacked a crazy witch-hating No-Maj in public!”

Tina opened her mouth to defend herself, but Graves silenced her with a glare. She never saw him losing his composure before and standing face to face with angry Director Graves wasn´t exactly Tina´s career plan.

“And you chose perfect timing too,” Graves continued. “With Grindelwald´s actions indicating that he might head to States soon, you, a skilled Auror, decides that working at Wands permit would be more fun than protecting this damned city!”

“I didn´t want to be suspended,” Tina said. “Please, don´t kick me from Magical Security, sir, I-” A lamp exploded on Graves´s table and Tina flinched. 

“Well, if you only care about your Auror career,” Graves said dangerously quietly, “maybe I _should_ kick you from Magical security.”

“I didn´t do it for career! You have no idea how that terrible woman is threating her children!” Tina exclaimed. “And Credence was getting the worst of it, I-”

“And it´s about you again,” Graves interrupted her, glaring. “Serving your punishment at Wands permit may teach you what discipline is, Miss Goldstein. And now, leave my office. Please.”

Tina took a shaky breathe and turned around. She couldn´t believe that she was actually getting demoted from being Auror. If her parents were still alive, they would be so ashamed of her. But she wasn´t ready to give up yet.

Swallowing she turned back to Mister Graves.

“Could you at least watch out for the boy?” she said hesitantly. “I mean Credence, sir. He really needs help.”

“What No-Majs do to each other is problem of their police, Miss Goldstein. Not a work for Aurors.”

“But-“

The lights above their heads flickered and Tina quickly closed her mouth. Angry Mister Graves wasn´t someone she wanted to argue with, but she felt that Credence deserved all help she could offer. Even if it meant begging an apparently pissed-off Auror to overstep laws.

“Don´t let anything happen to him, sir,” she said, unable to look him in the eyes and see the disappointment in them. “Please.”

“Out of my office. Now!”

Sighing, Tina turned on her heel and left Graves to stare holes into the door which she closed behind herself. 

Graves shook his head and went to sit at the table. Goldstein should be glad that No-Majs´ memories were successfully erased, instead of thinking about getting even more involved in their affairs. It wasn´t like Graves didn´t care for No-Maj children, he simply thought that No-Maj police could take care about them even without magic. His eyes fell on the pile of European newspapers, full of mentions of Grindelwald´s attacks. He had no time to worry about some No-Majs when the threat of Dark wizard moving to States was becoming more and more solid.

With Tina gone, the amount of work to do didn´t shrink, so Graves spent most of the next week in his office. He barely had time to go home to get a few hours of sleep and clean clothes before heading right back, trying not to miss Tina´s energy and sharp mind too much. Occasionally, he caught himself wondering if he couldn´t secretly sneak some reports to Wand permit office for Tina to fill them for him, but he always just shook the thoughts off with a sight. 

But maybe he could check on the witch-hunters, just to make sure that the obliviating left no residual memories. It was lunch break (recently one of Graves´s least favourite times of day) and there were no urgent matters, so Graves grabbed his coat and left the office, hoping to get as much of fresh air as it was possible in New York.

The Second Salemers seemed to be early-lunchers, because when Graves reached their usual meeting spot, children were already pouring out of the church, handing out leaflets while Mary Lou had a passionate speech about the evils of modern witchcraft. 

Graves stopped for a moment to listen to her, wondering why anyone would pay attention to something to far-fetched. After a minute, he silently thanked Merlin that there were no Second Salemers around in the areas attacked by Grindelwald, or the Dark wizard would be already using them to spread fear among No-Majs.

After the speech, Graves moved to the other side of the road to observe children from distance. He didn´t want to get involved, but Tina´s pleas stood out in his mind and he decided that checking if Credence-kid was doing fine wouldn´t harm anyone.

It wasn´t hard to notice Credence. He was older than other Mary Lou´s kids, dark haired and shyly looking to ground as if believing that when he doesn´t look at other people, they wouldn´t look at him either. 

Graves tilted his head to side. Boy looked alive enough for him to just leave, but something in Credence´s slouching posture triggered Graves´s Auror instincts. When the boy moved down the street in an attempt to give his leaflets out, Graves silently followed. 

Credence tried to offer the leaflets to people passing him by, but the most simply ignored him. He wouldn´t mind, he never liked the attention, but if he failed, Ma would punish him so he tried anyway. When a hand reached out for one of his leaflets, he flinched in surprise.

“May I?” 

“Ye-yes, sir.”

Gentleman in expensively looking suit and a nice, dark coat took a leaflet and studied it. Credence remembered Ma telling him to explain their cause to anyone who might seem interested, but he couldn´t bring himself to speak of witches to this man. He would just make a fool of himself, he was sure about it.

“Are you all right?” the mister in nice coat asked suddenly, startling Credence out of his thoughts. “You look pale.”

“I-I´m fine, sir.”

The mister in nice coat stopped reading the leaflet and eyed Credence instead. “Are you sure?” he asked, slightly tilting his head to side. Credence could feel his ears turning pink from heat, unused to this level of attention.

“Yes, sir.”

He dared a quick glance at the other man. Most of people didn´t care if he was all right or not and Credence didn´t know what to think of this man. The only person who ever showed some care was Miss Tina and Miss Tina wouldn´t see him again because she got in troubles for attacking his Ma and she was probably angry with Credence because he caused her troubles. 

Bowing his head as low as he could, Credence took a tentative step back. He didn´t want to cause troubles to anyone else.

Suddenly, a drop of water hit his cheek. Credence´s shoulders fell. He didn´t like rain. It was cold and wet and he still had a lot of leaflets to give out. The mister in nice coat looked up, frowning at the gray sky. He reached for his pocket but then seemed to change his mind and let his hand fall by his side with a sigh, as if he just realized that his pocket wasn´t big enough for an umbrella.

“You should go home, boy,” he told Credence. “You´d get soaked in this rain.”

Credence shook his head. “I have to give out the leaflets,” he said quietly. Looking at his feet, Credence didn´t see Graves´s eyebrows jumping up at hearing that.

Considering the pros and cons, Graves looked at the leaflet in his hand again. He should be going back to his (dry) office and do something useful but he didn´t want to leave Credence here, trying to follow his Ma´s orders and failing miserably, because seriously, who was even interested in this ridiculous leaflets? Something about the shy, pale boy made Graves´s hard Auror core soften with pity.

“This looks quite interesting, could you tell me more about it?” he heard himself saying aloud. Credence looked almost as surprised as Graves himself, hearing it. “Maybe we could go somewhere for a lunch,” Graves continued, unsure what was he getting himself into. “And you´ll tell me more about these Second Salemers, boy. All right?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graves gets to know Credence better and he notices a strange thing about the boy. The work calls, but he promises to meet the boy again.

Struggling under the amount of work, Graves didn´t have much time to think about Credence in the following days. But on one especially sunny morning, when he decided to walk to work instead of apparting, he passed by another Second Salemers´ meeting spot.

The terrible woman was giving one of her speeches about the witches living among us (Graves smirked) and being bloodthirsty and dangerous (he remembered Grindelwald and the smirk dissolved) and her children were dutifully standing behind her.

Credence was at his mother´s side like usually. Slowing down a bit, Graves observed the boy carefully. He seemed to be all right, maybe a bit more stooped than necessary, but at least he was decently dressed and didn´t seem like suffering from malnutrition. Graves was in the middle of turning away and going to work, when Credence glanced up and their eyes met.

The pure hope in boy´s sight was enough to make Graves stop. The kid looked genuinely happy to see him (not something he was used to), despite they only talked once before. 

Graves didn´t like what that suggested.

Lurking to the closest side alley, Graves watched as Mary Lou distributed the leaflets among the children. As soon as Credence got his share, he headed towards the alley where Graves stood.

“Hello, Credence,” he greeted the boy when they were alone.

Credence bowed his head in greeting before remembering that he could speak as well. “Good morning, sir.”

Graves opened his mouth to say something, only then realizing that he didn´t know what. Originally, he intended only to pass by, without getting in contact with the No-Maj boy again. Taking to Credence wasn´t something he planned to do, but now, standing in the lonely alley with the boy, he felt the obligation to at least say something friendly before excusing himself to work.

“How are you?” he said eventually, hoping that the question was noncommittal enough. To his surprise, Credence looked as if he asked him if he ever saw a unicorn. It seemed that he wasn´t used to people caring about his well-being. The realization made Graves´s chest tighten.

“I´m fine,” boy said slowly.

“Good. It´s better weather today, isn´t it?” 

“Yes.”

Aware that the conversation was quickly taking the wrong turn, Graves pretended to check his watches.

“Oh, what a time it is! I should be better going.”

“I´m sorry,” Credence said hastily. “I didn´t want to delay you, sir.”

“Nonsense. It was nice to talk to you,” Graves said, supressing the urge to pacepalm. When Tina begged him to check on the boy, she probably didn´t mean that he should stop by and ask Credence about the weather. He at least patted the boy´s shoulder before turning away-

-and the turned right back, when he felt a small spark of magic from the contact.

“Sir?” Credence asked, looking at him with puzzled expression. 

Slowly, Graves put his hand back on Credence´s shoulder and held it there. The sensation of the static electricity didn´t appear this time, but he still felt some echo of it. He leant closer, staring intently into Credence´s widened eyes, searching for whatever which could be causing it.

“Sir?” Credence´s voice climbed higher, mixture of surprise and worry.

“Never mind.”

Graves straightened again and pulled back. Whatever he felt before, it was probably just his imagination playing tricks on him because of caffeine withdrawal. He should say goodbyes and head to work before he manages to freak the poor kid even more.

But if it wasn´t his imagination… He glanced at Credence who quickly looked to ground. 

There wasn´t anyone around, Graves thought, looking at the both ends of the alley. If he was wrong, he would have only one No-Maj to obliviate. And if he was right… 

“May I?” he asked, taking a leaflet out of Credence´s hands.

“Of-of course.”

Graves slowly bended the paper over, making sure that Credence could see what he was doing. He flipped a corner here and bent another one there, before showing a small paper bird to Credence.

“It´s… nice,” Credence said, unsure how he was supposed to react on the paper animal.

Smirking, Graves ran his fingertips over the bird´s wings, willing a bit of magic to pour from them into the paper. The bird twitched on his palm. Credence gasped when the paper bird slowly bent its wings and then flapped them, flying above Grave´s outstretched palm.

While Credence stared at it with his eyes round as sausages, Graves carefully watched the boy. He didn´t want the No-Maj start screaming and running away in fear of magic, but it seemed that the boy wasn´t afraid. On contrary, Credence looked absolutely amazed by the small display of magic and he couldn´t tear his eyes away from the bird.

“Have you ever seen something like that?” Graves asked silently, startling Credence out of his trance.

Boy shook his head, nervously looking from bird to Graves and back. 

“It´s… magic, isn´t it?” he whispered.

“Yes.”

The bird slowly descended back on Graves hand and stilled. Credence still stared at it, as if expecting it to fly again, so Graves closed his fingers around the bird and pocketed it.

“What do you know about magic, Credence?” he asked.

“Nothing,” boy shook his head quickly, so quickly that it roused Graves´s suspicion.

“What do you think of witches? Your mother doesn´t seem to be very fond of them.”

That was a huge underestimating and Credence frowned over it. He opened his mouth as if going to speak, but then closed it soundlessly again. Graves patiently waited for a minute and when the boy didn´t look like sharing his opinion, he tried it differently.

“Are you afraid of witches?”

Credence looked up with startled expression, as if only now realizing that Graves had to be witch if he was capable to do magic. Swallowing, Credence shrugged. 

The only witches he knew were Miss Tina, who was kind to him and protected him from Ma once, and this man who bought him a meal last time and who could enchant paper to move. In their hands, magic didn´t look as dangerous as Ma used to describe it.

Graves observed him and then pulled the paper bird out of his pocket again.

“Would you like to hold it?” he asked, handing the paper to Credence, who almost dropped all the other leaflets in surprise.

The paper bird sat on boy´s palm and Graves ran his fingers over it again, willing it to move. The wings flapped hesitantly and the bird crooked its head to look at Credence.

Graves took the opportunity and slipped his hand under Credence´s, holding boy´s hand in his own while Credence stared at the moving bird in awe. The echo of magic was back, stronger this time, as if something under Credence´s skin reacted on the enchanted bird in his palm. Graves allowed himself a smile.

“Maybe you could learn making birds like this too,” he said.

“Me? No…” Credence shook his head quickly and handed the bird back to Graves.

“You´re not a normal kid, are you?” Graves asked. “I didn´t mean it in wrong way,” he added quickly, seeing Credence´s wounded expression. “Do strange things happen around you? Have you ever noticed things that you couldn´t explain?”

Credence tilted his head to side, thinking. He remembered everything going on around him since he was child, everything he tried to hide from his Ma, who would surely punish him for it if she knew. 

He nodded.

“You´re a unique boy, Credence,” Graves said quietly. “You have magic in you, a trace of it, enough not to be like everyone else.”

“Am I like you?” Credence asked, doing poor job to hide eagerness in his voice. 

Graves hesitated, thinking of his power and wandless magic and of a small echo of magic in Credence. He didn´t want to give boy false hope. 

“I don´t know,” he said eventually. “You have some magic in you, Credence. But it´s hard to tell how much.”

“Oh.” Credence didn´t seem to mind that his magic could be weak. The mere idea of having some seemed to amaze him, as if he never expected anything good to happen to him in his life (and maybe he never did). Graves´s hands twitched in sudden urge to hug the boy.

“I need to go to work now,” he said instead. “But I´ll come to see you later, all right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Graves already half turned to leave, before glancing back at Credence.

“You can call me Graves,” he said and boy´s eyes lit up a bit.

“Yes, Mister Graves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all kudos and lovely comments.:)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graves finds his secret little pleasure in meetings with Credence and the boy certainly doesn´t complain. But what will happen when a new case demans Graves´s attention, a case of mysterious force destroying New York?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say hello to Obscurus and events from the movie. Some describtions are inspired by movie and the original script of movie. Naturally, I don´t own anything of it.:)

Meetings with Credence became a habit, though not as regular one as Graves would wish. He still had his work at MACUSA and Credence was busy fulfilling orders of his adoptive mother. But even Mary Lou couldn´t make Credence despise the magic, not after seeing the beautiful, gentle side of it.

Between duties of Director of Magical Security and even more secret meetings with Credence, Graves had barely any time left and most of his days were filled with coffee and paperwork. Occasional talks with Credence were almost the only thing he could look forward to (no, honestly, they were the only thing he was looking forward to these days). 

He still wasn´t sure if the boy was a Squib or just very, very weak and uneducated wizard, but there was clearly some trace of magic in the boy. _He´s a part of our world,_ Graves reasoned with himself. _He´s not a No-Maj. I can talk to him._

So they talked.

And Graves learnt more about the Second Salemers then he ever wanted to know. About Mary Lou Barebone´s obsession with witches, her ruthless demanding of the obedience and her merciless lust for punishing.

First time Graves saw bruises on Credence´s hands, he saw red, and thought that Tina should have hexed Mrs. Barebone more.

“No, I couldn´t possibly…” Credence was shaking his head, taking a step backwards. “I have to prepare the soup for children. Ma would be angry if I came late.”

Sighing, Graves had to surrender. “All right,” he said. “But maybe I could take you for lunch someday.” He just offered a dinner to Credence, who reacted as if Mr. Graves suggested that they could paint rude texts on church´s walls.

“I don´t want to bother you,” Credence whispered.

“Nonsense. I´d like to have lunch with you.”

The boy shyly smiled, his eyes full of supressed hope. Graves suspected that Credence wasn´t used to people being nice to him (definitely something his mother hasn´t showed him). To have someone talking to him kindly (and showing him wonders of magic) almost made Credence to stand straight. Almost.

Graves swore to himself that he would make sure that the boy gets to learn to look people in the eyes and talk aloud. Leaving him standing alone in the street was harder every time, but there seemed to be no other option. He couldn´t just kidnap witch-hunter´s kid. No to mention that Credence would be probably too scared of his mother to try to leave her. 

“I´ll try to come tomorrow,” Graves said gently. “Unless there´s something serious, I should be able to come shortly after the lunch.”

“Is your job dangerous?” Credence asked, staring somewhere behind Graves´s left knee.

“Why would you ask?”

“You mention emergencies sometimes,” Credence retorted, still averting his gaze. “And cases. It sounds serious.”

Graves smiled. _You´re hiding nice brains under that ugly haircut, kid_ , he thought. “Yes. My job can be serious and sometimes, it´s dangerous too.”

“But you´ll be all right, right?” Credence asked hastily, his voice rising above the usual whisper.

“I´m trying to be careful.”

Credence slowly raised his eyes to look at Mr. Graves. “But… you could get hurt?”

“Yes,” Graves said grimly, not wanting to lie to boy. “But I could also get hit by car when I go to work, so…” he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “Every job can be dangerous. Mine is just… a bit more dangerous than the average. But I do my best to stay vigilante and not to risk recklessly.”

“I don´t want you to get hurt, Mr. Graves,” Credence said, grabbing Graves´s sleeve.

“It´s not that bad, really,” Graves reassured him. “I´m… something like a policeman in the magic world. And I have my colleagues to rely on.” (Except of Tina, who was still stuck at Wands permit, despite her only fault was that she didn´t hit Mary Lou Barebone with strong enough curse.)

Credence didn´t look genuinely reassured, but he at least let go of Graves´s coat. The idea of losing the only person who was kind to him was too much for the boy. He slightly trembled and his fingers unconsciously clenched around the leaflets in his hand.

“I´ll come tomorrow again, all right?” Graves asked softly and Credence hesitantly nodded.

He watched Mr. Graves to turn around and walk away until the wizard vanished in whirl of his dark coat. The surface of the wall behind Credence´s back cracked, but he didn´t seem to notice.

* * * 

Frowning, Graves read the newest reports of the mysterious destruction around New York. So far, the damages were neglected as local earthquakes or gas explosion by No-Maj population, but wizards knew better. Something like this couldn´t be an accident, not while Grindelwald was doing his best to wreck the havoc in Europe. If the same was going to happen is New York, it was Graves´s job to deal with it.

Problem was, that no one had any idea what they were trying to deal with.

Small group of the Aurors led by Graves surrounded the rubble left of a small house. 

Graves determinedly walked up the stairs which used to lead to the main door, but now lead only to a large hole in the brick walls. 

Behind him, a No-Maj reporter was interviewing possible witness and Graves intently listened to their conversation, while pretending to study the broken wall.

“It was like… like a wind or something,” the middle aged No-Maj was saying. “Like a dark wind with eyes, shining white eyes…”

 _Wind with eyes, huh?_ Graves thought without any enthusiasm. 

“Dark wind… with eyes,” reporter repeated, writing into his notebook, his expression bored.

“Like a dark cloud,” witness continued, “and it dove right there, down under the ground.”

Graves glanced where the man pointed and he slowly moved that way. He doesn´t believe in clouds with eyes, but whatever destroyed this house, he was quite certain that it wasn´t any gas explosion. 

Reporters behind his back discussed the news, but he didn´t pay them much attention anymore, because they were just complaining about the possibly drunken witness. 

Curiously, Graves examined the pile of bricks. They seemed like torn apart by some mysterious force – by magic, without doubt. No wind or electrical phenomenon could ever cause something like this. His Auror instincts alerted Graves to something at his side, a wind picking up, swirling around the building. It didn´t feel like normal wind and Graves´s hand twitched towards the wand in his coat. 

No one else seemed to notice the eerie wind and Graves silently followed its direction when suddenly a wall next to him cracked, as if something was trapped inside of it and it _wanted out._

Graves quickly spun on the spot when a close pile of bricks shackled and something dived under the pavement, force of unknown power crushing through the street. Everyone turned in the direction of high-pitched sound when the force tore through the street, ripping a deep gap in the pavement, sending cars flying around. It abruptly turned up, flying in the air, swirling away before anyone could follow it.

Graves quickly descended the stairs and followed the tear in the ground, examining the damage. It didn´t look like anything he ever saw before. But he was sure of one thing – no earthquake or a man could cause such destruction.

It was _a beast._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment please! I love to hear what you think about the story.:)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _On the second thought, if Tina wasn´t going to stalk the Second Salemers today, maybe he could. Not stalk, of course. Just, check the situation. For the security purposes, naturally. ___

The beast´s attacks became more and more frequent. It always stroke at night, damaging pavements and buildings. So far, there were no human victims to it but Graves knew that it was sheer luck, considering the destructive power of the creature. Whatever it was (and he still hadn´t found any relevant information in MACUSA´s archives), it had power beyond the magic of any wizard. The only positive was, that Grindelwald chose to focus his attacks in Poland for now, so Graves at least didn´t have to deal with this threat.

If he spent any more time at work, rumours would spread that he moved in there.

But with an unknown fantastic beast salvaging his city, Graves couldn´t sit at home and do nothing. It´s needless to say that his meetings with Credence grew less and less frequent. But Graves still did his best to see the boy at least once or twice per week. Just to make sure that Credence was doing well, he reasoned with himself. There was no other reason. It wasn´t because he was fond of boy´s presence. 

Lost in thoughts, Graves waited in the line in front of a hot-dog stand, hoping to have at least one decent meal today (at least more decent than eight cubes of sugar in a coffee). Suddenly, a glimpse of familiar hat caught his attention.

“Tina?” 

The woman didn´t turn, but Graves was almost completely sure that he wasn´t mistaken.

“Miss Goldstein!”

She pushed her hat lower into her face and hurried away. Forgetting the food, Graves started after her.

“Tina!”

He managed to catch her elbow before she could cross the street. Tina turned around with a forced smile, clutching her hot-dog like an anchor.

“Oh, Mr. Graves, sir. Nice to see you,” she said breathlessly. The guilt written all over her face made him suspiciously look around. The corner of the opposite side of the road looked familiar and Graves turned back to Tina with a stern expression.

“Are you stalking Second Salemers again?”

Tina´s eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. “No, sir. Of course no.”

“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Tina´s cheeks turned pink and she desperately struggled to hold his gaze. 

She was honest person and Graves respected that about her, but her inability to lie when feeling guilty was sometimes a burden for an Auror. Graves stared her down until her whole face turned scarlet.

“Fine!” she burst out finally, averting her gaze. “You got me, sir. I-I came to do something inappropriate. But it has nothing to do with the Salemers,” she added, wide-eyed.

Graves just raised his eyebrows higher and waited.

“Promise me that you won´t tell anyone,” Tina demanded.

“You know that I can´t-”

“It´s nothing illegal! Just a bit… embarrassing.”

“Oh?”

Tina looked around as if checking that no one was listening to their conversation. Taking a deep breathe, she looked back at Graves.

“I came to buy a hot-dog.”

“And it´s supposed to be a secret?”

“Yes, because…” she struggled to find the right words, “my sister always complains that I eat too much junk food. And you know, sir, she could be right. Because I have this…. this unhealthy obsession with hot-dogs!”

“Hot-dogs?” Graves repeated, fighting a smile. It was the most stupid and weird excuse he ever heard from any of his Aurors (and he heard a lot of excuses as a head of Magical Security). Tina´s face seemed to be on fire and he half expected the fume starting to emerge from under her hat.

“Yes, sir. Hot-dogs.” Tina swallowed and looked down, only now realizing that she was still clutching her hot-dog. “See?” 

Graves couldn´t supress a smirk any longer. “Yes.” He decided to play with her and let her go this time. “It´s very serious problem, Tina,” he said in falsely worried voice. “You really should eat something else than junk food, you know?”

Tina exhaled in relief that he wasn´t asking about the Second Salemers anymore. “Yes, sir. I´ll try to eat healthier. Here,” she pushed the hot-dog into his hands. “I shouldn´t eat that. Thank you for lecturing me. I promise to eat more fruits and vegetables and less hot-dogs. Hot-dogs are evil, sir. I-I will go have my lunch somewhere else. Far, far from here.”

“Brilliant idea,” he agreed, holding the hot-dog awkwardly. “You should avoid this street. I mean this hot-dog stand.”

“Yes, sir.” Still red in her face, Tina turned around and hurried away. 

Graves watched her leave with a smirk. As far as excuses went, Tina did quite good job this time. Maybe he could close an eye for today and let her slip. Plus, he got a free hot-dog. He glanced down at food and slightly frowned. He didn´t think that Tina´s preference of junk food was troublesome, but her obsession with mustard was another story.

“Tina,” he sighed, trying to hold the gifted hot-dog without getting any of extra-extra mustard on his scarf.

On the second thought, if Tina wasn´t going to stalk the Second Salemers today, maybe _he_ could. Not stalk, of course. Just, check the situation. For the security purposes, naturally.

Munching on his hot-dog, Graves hurried to the other side of road and then to the Salemers´ church. There was no crowd there today. Mary Lou had to move her speech to some other place, like she began doing lately. Graves hoped that she didn´t go too far, he didn´t have much left of his lunch break anymore.

To his relief, the anti-witch campaign moved only three blocks further, taking a stand in front of a museum. Mary Lou probably wanted to get new people for her cause. While she spoke of evils of the modern age, her children circled the small crowd and tried to give out the leaflets.

Searching for Credence, Graves moved closer, carefully staying out of Mary Lou´s view. He didn´t trust himself not to curse her if she came to talk to him about the God and order. Whatever God dictates mothers to beat their adoptive children, Graves wanted to have nothing with that him.

Spotting Credence, Graves allowed himself to relax a bit. For some reason, seeing the boy always calmed him, bringing him small joy in the troubles of the everyday life. 

Credence noticed him too, raising his head up for a change and he slowly headed to Graves, as if attracted by some spell which he was unable to resist. Graves waited until the boy got closer and then turned around to head to a side alley, where they wouldn´t risk Mary Lou seeing them.

“Hello, Credence,” he said softly, when the boy neared him.

“Mister Graves,” Credence breathed, stooping hesitantly a few steps away. Graves noticed that his hands with leaflets trembled a bit.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Graves walked closer, gently slipping his fingers under Credence´s chin, tilting boy´s head up to look into his face. Credence avoided his eyes like usually, but the way in which he nervously bit on his lower lip was new.

“Did something happen? You know that you can tell me, Credence.”

The boy shuddered, swaying at spot as if not sure whenever he should take a step back or lean into the touch.

“Do you think the leaflets are stupid?” Credence blurted out and immediately blushed.

Graves hesitated. Honest answer would be yes, but he didn´t want to offend Credence´s feelings. He chose to avoid the question.

“Why would you ask?”

“People…”

“They mocked you because of the leaflets?”

“Say we´re freaks.” Credence finally forced himself to take a step back, away from Grave´s warm hand. He swallowed. “That witches are just myth and we´re fools for believing in them.”

Graves gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Do I look like a myth?”

Credence shook his head, avoiding Graves´s eyes. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed and nervously clutched the leaflets. Graves caught himself imagining hexing the leaflets into confetti and stuffing them up Mary Lou´s-

“Say, Credence, did you notice anything weird, lately?” 

“What do you mean, Mister Graves?”

“Damage around the city. Broken walls, small, local earthquakes or something disturbing…” Graves trailed off, intently watching for boy´s reaction. Credence shook his head.

“No.” Hesitant pause. “Why?”

“There is something, fantastic beast of some kind, attacking buildings around New York. It´s been few weeks already and I´m afraid that we´re no closer to catching it than we were before. It hasn´t attacked people yet, but it may be dangerous. You shouldn´t wander around the city alone, at least not after the dusk. Just because it targeted only buildings so far, we can´t be sure that it would stay that way.”

“You… it´s your job to catch it?” Credence asked slowly. He seemed troubled by the idea. 

“Yes.”

“But you said you´re something like a wizard-policeman. Normal policemen don´t catch animals.”

“It´s no animal, Credence. It´s a magical creature, we call them fantastic beasts,” Graves explained. “And it´s my job to protect this city from any magical threats. Beasts included.”

“There are magical beasts?” Credence asked, wide-eyed. “Like dragons? Are they real?”

“Yes. But dragons are rare, fortunately. And besides, this is no dragon.” 

“Then what it is?”

Graves hesitated, thinking. He didn´t want to worry Credence by the description of “dark wind with eyes”, but in the same time, he felt the obligation to warn the boy, just in case.

“I don´t know,” he admitted quietly. “I honestly don´t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone!:)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Newt comes in New York! With no Grindelwald in sight, the story will soon take much different turn than movie did.:)

“Are you sure that it´s not work of Grindelwald?”

Graves rolled his eyes. As the beast´s attacks grew more frequent, so did the number of Aurors asking him the very same question. Assuring his men than no, it was not the Dark wizard through the effect of the attacks was almost the same, was becoming annoying.

“Yes, madam president,” he retorted as calmly as he could. “I saw places of its attacks. This is work of some fantastic beasts, not any wizard.”

Picquery leant over the map at his side, her expression tense. “What kind of beast could cause so much damage?” she wondered aloud. She didn´t question anyone particular, but Graves still felt responsible to answer.

“We don´t know yet,” he admitted unwillingly, frowning at the map where every attack of the mysterious beast was marked with a red dot. It was chaotic, but also rather limited to the east half of the city.

“Hm.” Picquery didn´t scold him for the lack of information, but Graves could feel the disappointment radiating off her. He decided to ignore it, well aware that his Aurors were doing everything in their power to hunt the beast down.

“Oh, excuse me,” female voice said behind his back and he turned his head from the maps. “Madam president-”

“Miss Goldstein,” Picquery snapped before Graves could demand why the hell Tina decided to disturb the official meeting. “You aren´t Auror anymore.”

“I know,” Tina said breathlessly, eyeing the high ranked officials. “But there was a minor incident-”

“And as you can see,” Picquery interrupted her again, “we are dealing with a very major incident right now.”

“Yes, madam.” Tina stared at her boots while she dragged a wizard in blue coat away with her. Graves followed her with his gaze, a small wrinkle forming at his forehead.

Picquery continued her speech about the characteristics of the beast´s attacks, but Graves was barely paying attention anymore. He never saw the wizard accompanying Tina before. If the man was reason why she intruded the meeting, he was probably some sort of criminal. Of course, Tina had to chase the criminals around despite being demoted to Wands permit. Too stubborn for her own good, that woman. But Graves also knew that Tina had great Auror instincts and if she thought that there was some incident, then there definitely was some incident, despite no one seemed interested to hear her out.

“We should enforce the guards around the No-Maj political places,” he said, turning back to Picquery and the map. “If the beast attacks some target of any importance, there won´t be enough Obliviators to stop the rumours. We were lucky that attacks were directed to houses and streets so far so they didn´t get much space in the newspapers yet. If the word spreads, we could be facing the same panic as Grindelwald causes in Europe.”

“Do as you deem right,” Picquery decided. “Just stop those attacks as soon as possible.”

“Yes, madam.”

The meeting was over, for now at least, and Graves hurried to the elevator. He should be checking on Credence, but he wanted to see Tina and her mysterious “minor incident” first. 

When reaching the Wands permit office, Graves slowed down his pace. Of course, he knew this part of MACUSA too, but he didn´t visit it often. Fortunately, the distinct voices caught his attention and he followed them to a desk where Tina was standing lamely, being told of by her current boss.

Graves cleared his throat and three the wizards turned to him.

“Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Graves, sir,” the man in neat suit said hastily, fixing his tie.

“Good afternoon, Abernathy,” Graves retorted. “Miss Goldstein.”

“Mr. Graves!” Tina hurried to him eagerly. “Here, Mr. Scamander has a crazy niffler creature in his case,” she said quickly, before Abernathy could stop her. “It escaped and caused terror in the bank.”

The wizard in blue coat (Mr. Scamander, Tina said) opened his mouth behind Tina´s back as if to say something, but Graves waved him off. Another fantastic beast was the last thing Graves wanted to see right now, but if there was indeed one in this man´s case, it was better to be dealt with before it would cause any more troubles.

“Let´s have a look,” he said, causing Tina to smile victoriously while she rushed to put the brown leather case on her table. Abernathy frowned at her, but he didn´t dare to speak against Graves´s demand. Mr. Scamander, on the other hand, looked like he would protect the case with his body if he could, but Graves stopped him with a stern glare and hovered above the case.

Tina took a sharp inhale and opened the case, all MACUSA´s wizards leaning over it…

… to see a collection of pastries covered in sugar and frosting.

“Oh,” Mr. Scamander gasped behind Graves. He was peaking over Graves´s shoulder, look of panic on his face. Smirking, Graves let out the breathe he didn´t realize he was holding. A case full of pastries was the best thing which happened to him in days.

“But…” Tina abruptly turned the case to herself, looking among pastries. Abernathy snorted and shook his head, leaving the embarrassing scene.

“Well, if there is no beast,” Graves said, shrugging apologetically, “I have reports to read.”

“But, sir-” Tina desperately looked at him and then at the sweet insides of the case. Graves shook his head. There was really nothing he could arrest the Scamander guy for. Even if the pastries were stolen, it was no matter of interest for an Auror, unless he stole them from the president Picquery herself. But it was hard to imagine the stern woman secretly hiding a case of deliciously looking doughnuts in her office.

“May I take one?” Graves asked, deciding to gain the maximum from the situation. 

Tina looked astonished and they both turned to Mr. Scamander. The wizard coughed and looked to the ground, before seemingly realizing that it was his case (and thus his pastries) in question.

“Yes, yes of course,” he said quickly with heavy British accent. “Please.” He waved his hand above the case, carefully not looking on either Tina or Graves. 

_Suspicious fellow_ , Graves thought, eyeing the British wizard intently. No wonder that Tina dragged him to MACUSA. But, as there was no apparent crime to arrest Mr. Scamander for, Graves settled with taking a fluffy pastry covered with lots of sugar.

“Thank you, Mr. Scamander.”

“Wha- Yes, you´re… welcome.” The man still looked everywhere but on Graves, but he at least tried a polite smile.

“Miss Goldstein,” Graves nodded to the poor witch. She seemed to be taking the lack of niffler as a personal offense and she miserably stared down the case. 

Graves left her moping, carefully pocketing the doughnut. He could take it to Credence later. Maybe a piece of sugar-covered pastry could raise boy´s spirit a bit. Not to mention that he should probably warn Credence of the mysterious attacks. Knowing that the boy had no means of protecting himself from the magical beast created an anxious knot in Graves´s stomach.

He could protect the boy, if he´d catch the beast soon enough. If he would finally find out what the hell it was. If. 

If.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Mass similar to cloud of dust, floating in the air without any sense of gravity-  
>  Dark smoke, its tendrils moving as if it was alive, giving the creature sense of shape despite its ever-shifting nature-  
> Capable of perceiving its surroundings, permanently connected to its host. _  
> -Obscurus-

In the evening, after the Afternoon Meeting and after reading reports and discussing them on the Pre-evening Meeting and after listening to Picquery for an extra forty minutes of Late-evening Meeting (and Graves knew Seraphina for years and never before he hated her urge to stay up-to date as much as now), after everything, he wasn´t sure anymore what time it even was or what was the last non-beast-hunting thought he had that day.

It all melted into one endless memory of discussing strategies and reports and _everything_ and Graves was exhausted to the point of simply locking himself in his office after the last (twentieth that day) meeting.

He seriously considered falling asleep on his desk. 

Pile of the reports was definitely high enough to make a confortable pillow. (Where did those reports even keep coming from?)

Loosening his tie, Graves leant back in his chair and sighed. He needed some rest, after all, he wasn´t as young as he used to be anymore. But the mere idea of going home and crushing in a soft bed while his city was being torn apart by some mysterious creature felt like treason. 

He can rest when the beast is caught. Sleeping is overrated, anyway.

Unfocusedly, Graves reached for a random report and pulled it closer without any enthusiasm. He started reading – it was speaking of some potions smugglers in the docks – rubbing his eyes when the letters started to blur. With a sigh, Graves jerked his tie off and he tried to straighten in the chair. He put the tie into his coat´s pocket, startling when his hand brushed something soft and sticky.

 _Doughnut_ , he remembered, the previous meeting with Tina and the strange British wizard coming to his mind. Graves shook his head. He felt like the meeting was days before, instead of hours. He definitely had days-worth of meetings since then.

He pocketed the pastry again, despite his stomach growling in protest. Forgetting the paperwork, Graves chose to go by the original plan and bring the treat to Credence, if only to get an excuse to see the boy tonight. Sometimes, he wondered if he should be seeing the No-Maj (he had a spark of magic in himself, thou) boy so much, but today, the voice of reason was muffled by the exhaustion and the feeling of defeat at being unable to stop beast´s attacks.

Not wasting time, Graves Apparated to Salemers´ Church the moment he left Woolworth Building. It was later than his usual visits and Credence was nowhere to be seen around the Church. Graves´s only hope was that the boy hadn´t gave out all his fliers yet and he was still somewhere in the streets.

Familiar with the usual routes Credence took, Graves quickly cast a No-Maj repellent charm on himself to avoid any unwanted encounters and he walked in the direction Credence used to take. 

Merlin had to feel fond of him, because it only took Graves couple of minutes to track the dark-haired boy down. 

Credence was doing his best standing-in-the-middle-of-pavement pose to get at least some of the passing people to take anti-witch fliers from his hands. Graves sadly watched as people walked past Credence as if he was invisible. They saw only the horrible haircut, slouched pose and cheap clothes of a boy who kept staring down, bearing the noise of crowd with expression of silent suffering. No one saw past the shy, faded image.

Well, their mistake.

“Hello, Credence,” Graves said when he got closer.

Credence´s head jerked up, and boy stared at Graves in surprise. But before he blinked and averted his gaze, Graves could swear he saw something akin to joy in boy´s eyes.

“Good evening, sir.”

“Let´s go somewhere quieter,” Graves suggested, leading Credence away from the crowded street. One of the best things about New York was, that when you needed a silent side alley, you just had to look around and not to be afraid of the shadows lingering in there.

“I´m sorry for coming so late,” Graves said. “We had a very busy day at work.”

“I´m glad you came,” Credence said.

“Oh, really?”

“When you stopped visiting Ma´s speeches, I worried that…” Credence paused, not knowing how to express his thoughts (or too shy to present an opinion).

“That what?” Graves asked, curious.

“That you had other things to do…” Credence trailed off, his voice fading into silence.

Graves shook his head. Of course Credence would think that he had abandoned him, after he failed to visit him for several days. Boy had to be used to people ignoring him. To have someone to actually care must felt like a miracle (or like a dream).

“I told you there was a beast attacking New York,” Graves said gently. “Hunting it took more of my time than I would wish, but I certainly didn´t forget about you.”

Credence´s cheeks turned pink at the words and he wordlessly shook his head. “I didn´t mean- of course you are busy, I wasn´t suggesting that-“

“It´s okay, Credence. Here,” Graves took out the doughnut from his pocket. “I got you something to eat, it got flatted a bit thou, sorry about that.” He handed the pastry to Credence, who accepted it with an expression of sheer awe.

“For me?”

“Yes.” Graves smiled, seeing Credence´s eyes lit up. “You should probably dust it a bit, just in case,” he added, blowing at doughnut in attempt to get rid of anything that could stick to it in his pocket. Some of the sugar was still on and it flew away in a small puff of white powder, making Credence cough. “Sorry.”

“Thank you, Mr. Graves.” 

Graves contently watched Credence eating the rare treat. Happiness suited to the boy. He should look like this more often. As if feeling the intensity of his gaze, Credence looked up and blushed.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You´re welcome. And there is no need to call me sir. Graves is enough.” For a moment, he thought about suggesting Percival too, but he felt that it would be too big step for Credence. Better to take it easily with the boy.

“Did you find out what that beast is?” Credence asked, after finishing the pastry and thanking for it for like ten more times.

“What beast?” Graves asked absentmindedly, eyeing the sugar caught on Credence´s lower lip. “Oh, you mean the one we´re trying to catch? No, not yet. The witnesses proved to be a little help.”

“There were witnesses?” Credence asked, sugar apparently untangling his tongue enough to actually _show_ some of his curiosity.

“Yes, but they didn´t follow the Prohibition law well enough, if you know what I mean,” Graves explained tiredly. “Dark cloud, they said. With eyes.”

“And there are no beasts like that?” Credence asked and Graves almost chuckled at boy´s naivety. He only stopped himself not to hurt Credence´s feelings.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Clouds with eyes,” Credence wondered aloud. “Sounds disturbing.”

“Whatever it was, it had immense destructive power,” Graves said and Credence shuddered. “I hope you weren´t going out at night, as you promised me.”

“Of course not! Ma would be furious if I wasted my time like that. Only, only sinful people wander around at night.”

For once, Graves was simply glad that fear of Mary Lou kept Credence inside and in the crowd, as protected from the mysterious beast as he could be.

“I´m sure that you can catch it, Mr. Graves,” Credence said with such blind trust in his voice that Graves had to wonder how he deserved it. He cleared his throat and smiled.

“I´ll so my best. But it´s indeed uneasy to chase clouds around a city,” he said.

“If it´s not cloud, maybe it´s just something that looks like cloud,” Credence wondered. “Like dust in air, or something.”

_Mass similar to cloud of dust, floating in the air without any sense of gravity-_

“Or like smoke. Or mist.”

_Dark smoke, its tendrils moving as if it was alive, giving the creature sense of shape despite its ever-shifting nature-_

“With some sort of eyes…”

_Capable of perceiving its surroundings, permanently connected to its host._

“Oh, Mercy Lewis,” Graves whispered, interrupting Credence´s way of thoughts. “It´s Obscurus.”

Everything fitted. Description of the dark cloud, damage it left in its wake, traces of magic left at the places of attacks. There were no recorded cases of it in America for centuries, but that didn´t have to mean anything. Graves didn´t became head of Magical Security for taking things for granted. If it could be an Obscurus, he couldn´t ignore the possibility just because it was unlikely.

“Obsurrus?” Credence tried to repeat and Graves looked at him in alarm.

“Obscurus.” Graves glanced around, almost reaching for wand in the mild panic. “Obscurus in a city like this…” Exposure would be understatement. (It would be like Grindelwald wildest dreams coming true.)

“Is it something bad?”

“It´s…” Graves took a deep breathe, considering how to explain it as quick as possible, without burdening Credence with unnecessary details. “Yes. It can be very dangerous.” 

He looked at the boy´s thin frame. Squib or not, Obscurus strong enough to cause the damage which Graves saw would be a tough opponent even for a well-trained Auror. 

Credence stared back at him with alarmed eyes, some of Graves tension seeping to him. Word Obscurus could have been unfamiliar to him, but seeing how it worried the older wizard, he understood that it was something strong and dangerous. He squeezed the fliers in his hands, for once ignorant about leaving wrinkles on them.

“Would your Ma search for you if you didn´t come home?” Graves asked intently. Credence´s eyes widened.

“If something happened to me? Do you think that the Obscurus could hurt people?”

Graves shook his head. “No, but… if you got lost, would your Ma call the police?” He wanted nothing else than sweeping boy in his arms and taking him somewhere safe, but he couldn´t drag Second Salemers´ kid away just like that.

“She would probably think that I ran away and she would wait until I return,” Credence said, after a pause. 

“And if you didn´t return?”

The mere idea seemed to take Credence aback.

“If I didn´t-? But where would I go?”

 _My place_ , Graves almost said, but then he hesitated.

He was the Director of Magical Security. His apartment could be warded with the strongest spells he knew but if someone like Grindelwald came to his door, it wouldn´t be enough to stop him. And someone like Grindelwald (or simply Grindelwald, because why not) coming to murder him in his sleep was exactly a kind of thing which could be happening these days, considering his luck with Obscurus and everything. 

Leaving Credence there alone and helpless would be too much of risk.

“Do you remember the witch who protected you from your mother?”

Credence blinked, confused by the turn of events. “You mean Miss Tina?”

“Exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are manna keeping me writing this.:)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would happen if Grindelwald never came to New York in 1926? There would be still Obscurus on loose in New York, with real Percival Graves searching for it, finding his way to Credence. Tina would still meet Newt Scamander and the creatures from the suitcase would flee, causing even more chaos in already panicked city.

Credence swayed in the spot, unsure what to do. The idea of leaving Ma, of leaving the Second Salemers, was terrifying and thrilling in the same time. Never before had he even considered running away, there was nowhere to go for him. He would end on the street, alone and starving. With Ma, he at least had roof over his head, clothes to wear and food to eat. Ma often said that it was all a good person needed to serve the God.

But when Mr. Graves suggested he could go with him… 

It sounded liked each and every sin his Ma had ever warned him from. Looking into Mr. Graves´s dark eyes, he left the envy he often felt towards the other people, people who could make their own decisions. He felt greediness for the different life, filled with magic and beauty and void of suffering. And worst of all, he felt _lust_ , burning like flame in his chest, threatening to devour him whole where he was standing, looking at Mr. Graves and at wizard´s hand outstretched towards him.

And for the first time in his life, Credence´s largest fear wasn´t his Ma, but the possibility that this was only a dream and that Mr. Graves would change his mind and tell him that he didn´t want to take him with him.

“Ready?” Graves asked, hoping against all stakes that Credence would dare to escape Mrs. Barebone´s grip.

Credence took a deep breathe. “Yes.” He took Mr. Grave´s hand, squeezing it as if his life depended on it. In some way, he felt like it did.

“Hold on,” Graves said, pulling Credence closer and Apparating them both. Credence gasped, crushing sensation pushing all air out of his lungs. He gripped Mr. Graves´s hand, fearing that he would be torn apart if he let go. 

It only lasted a second and then the reality was back and Credence´s legs were giving out under him.

“It´s okay,” Mr. Graves soothed him. “Apparation can be a bit uncomfortable.” Bit uncomfortable was a huge underestimating, but Credence was too busy trying not to vomit on Mr. Graves´s shoes to point that out. 

When he finally caught his breathe, Credence noticed that they were standing on stairs of some building, a door in front of them. Mr. Graves gave him a reassuring, though a bit tense smile and proceeded to knock on the door.

Credence didn´t even have time to ask where they were, when the door was opened by a blond woman in pink, silky nightgown. 

“Miss Goldstein,” Mr. Graves greeted her. “May we come in?” He didn´t wait until she could respond and practically dragged Credence inside the comfortably looking apartment. 

The woman followed them, her pink lips curling in surprised “oooh” while she was looking from Mr. Graves to Credence.

“Oh, Credence,” she said cheerfully, her surprise turning into joy instantly. “I´ve heard so much about you, it´s pleasure to finally meet you.” Before Credence could respond, she launched herself on him and firmly hugged him.

“Where´s Tina?” Mr. Graves asked behind their backs and Credence tried to untangle himself from beautiful lady´s arms.

“Oh, well,” the lady pulled away and blushed, suddenly looking very guilty. “She just… went for some fresh air, a small walk…” she trailed off and Mr. Graves frowned at her and then at the opened window. He rushed to it and leant out, looking at something in the distance. Credence could hear the sirens and honking cars.

“Tell me that it´s not Tina´s fault.”

“I think it´s something from Mr. Scamander´s case, actually,” blond lady said, pulling the edges of her bathrobe closer to cover herself better. Credence blushed when he noticed how short her nightgown was and he glanced away, only to see several pieces of underwear floating in front of the fireplace.

“It´s…” he pointed on the floating clothes, unable to express the wonder.

“Yes, they just dry themse- oh, I didn´t know you´re a No-Maj. With some magic, really? Mr. Graves, you´re full of surprises,” she said, quickly switching from casual to concerned and back to cheerful. Credence had no idea how the trail of her thoughts worked, but there was something definitely strange about the way she changed subject abruptly in the middle of sentences.

“Stop worrying the boy,” Mr. Graves said sternly. “And yes, his mother was a witch.”

“Probably,” Credence added, feeling the need to clarify it. Just because Ma always said that his real mother was a wicked, unnatural woman, it didn´t mean that he was sure about his magical origins.

“Poor you,” blond lady said fondly. “You should eat something, you´re so thin. And I´m Queenie, by the way. Come here.” She poked him until he sat at the dining table.

“Stay with Miss Queenie, Credence,” Mr. Graves said, lurking behind her back while she enchanted the dinner leftovers to put themselves on the plates and float on the table. “She´ll take care about you.”

“Oh, I definitely will, Mr. Graves,” Queenie said happily, as if taking care of a complete stranger in the middle of night was her favourite past time. “And you´re no stranger, honey,” she added, while making a cup of something steaming. “Tina told me so much about you. She´s my sister, you know?”

“Really?” Credence said, because he felt like he should say something but didn´t know what. He watched the food flying towards him in awe. He never imagined magic to be able to do so much, to be so amazing and so casual in the same time.

“Here, have a cocoa,” Queenie said, affectionately running fingers through his hair. 

“Keep wand close, Miss Goldstein,” Mr. Graves said, pulling he away from Credence by her elbow. “I´ll go fetch Tina and whatever that escaped from that weird Brit´s case and I´ll be right back. Credence will stay here in the meantime, all right?”

“Yes, of course,” Queenie nodded. “I´d love to take care about him. You really don´t have anything to worry-”

“And if I don´t return within hour,” Mr. Graves continued, interrupting her sternly, “send a message to MACUSA, saying that the latest attacks might be caused by an Obscurus.”

“Oh. Oh!” Queenie exclaimed and Credence worriedly looked at her. For the first time since they basically broke in her apartment, she looked genuinely worried.

“Stay alert,” Mr. Graves said and hurried to the opened window. Credence half got up from his seat to follow, but Mr. Graves was faster and hurled himself out of the window, disappearing in the dark twirl.

“He´ll be all right,” Queenie said as if feeling Credence´s worry. “He´s head of Magical Security department, after all. He can take care of himself.” She turned to him, crossing her hands on her chest in almost intimidating manner. “Why aren´t you eating, sweetheart? It´ll get cold.”

“Huh.” Credence looked at the plate in front of him, full of some pasta with deliciously smelling sauce. “I-”

“Nonsense, of course that you can,” she insisted before he could say anything. “You look so pale and thin. You should eat, honey. Here, would you like a soup instead?” She waved her wand towards the stove and created a bowl of soup within seconds. Credence gasped at such casual display of magic and watched with his eyes wide as the bowl flied to him.

“Thank you,” he said finally, because he was used to thank for food.

Queenie beamed a wide smile. “You´re welcome. Say, after the soup, would you like dessert? I think that we should have some strudel left.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter because I got flu (or plague, or whatever:). I´ll try to update again soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graves gets to see the real case of the beasts and Tina´s auror career seems to reach even lower point than before. As usually, Newt is happily unaware of all of that.

Graves Apparated to Central Park.

Most of the noise seemed to come from there, so he almost wasn´t surprised to see damaged fences of the Zoo. Almost, because the extent of damage exceeded even his darkest expectations. The large break in one of the brick walls looked as if something huge simply _walked_ right through it.

Loud, grunting noise caught Graves´s attention and he snapped his head towards it. It sounded like some large animal and for a moment, Graves was simply glad that it wasn´t Obscurus, because Obscurus couldn´t make sounds like that.

But Obscurus or not, the beast was apparently dangerous. Graves hurried to the source of the noises, wand pulled out. He half thought about calling the enforcements, but there seemed to be no time. Instead, he followed the distinct noises, crunched down to present a smaller target to whatever caused the distress.

He hid behind some bushes next to a small bridge, watching in awe the scene on the frozen lake. Huge creature, similar to a rhino but much bigger, was slipping on the ice towards the screaming man, while another man seemed to be chasing it with a case in his hands. Graves recognized the blue coat of man with the case and remembered today´s encounter with Tina and her British suspect, Scamander, was it?

But Tina only mentioned escaped niffler, not a monstrosity like this! He should have arrested the man on the spot anyway.

Not having time to regret underestimating the danger before, Graves readied his wand, but before he could Apparate on the lake to intervene, he heard a silent rustle behind his back. 

He wasn´t Director of Magical Security just for a show.

Out of reflex, he launched himself to side, away from the possible line of attack. He rolled over his shoulder and landed on his feet, facing the ambusher. After years and years of Auror duty, there weren´t many things capable to surprise Graves anymore.

Seeing exceptionally guiltily looking Tina was apparently one of them.

“Tina?!” he hissed angrily and her face twisted in remorse. Shaking his head, Graves turned back to the lake, only to see the gargantuan rhino being sucked into the Scamander´s case.

He could hear Tina sneaking behind his back and fought the instinctive urge to lash on her.

“That´s the same case-?”

“No,” she whispered intently. “No!” she repeated, more urgently when he cast disbelieving look to her. “Really, he accidentally switched the cases with that No-Maj,” Tina insisted, pointing to the lake.

Graves looked at the man currently shaking his hands with Scamander. He took a slow breathe focusing on keeping his voice low.

“That man´s a No-Maj?”

“Yes,” Tina whispered barely audible next to him. Her very voice dripped with unspoken guilt. She was probably saying good-byes to her Auror career in her head. 

Graves groaned and retreated behind the bush, pulling Tina along with himself, when Scamander and the No-Maj man took the case and headed towards the bridge. Luckily, they turned their steps under the bridge. Graves and Tina silently watched them both to climb into the case.

“What the hell is that case?” Graves hissed at Tina, who was on edge of tears.

“I don´t know,” she whispered back, sounding desperate. “I swear I didn´t know he had that in the case, sir. If I knew, I wou-”

“Enough,” Graves stopped her resolutely. “Save that for later. We need to secure the case now.” He carefully began sneaking under the bridge, Tina tailing close behind. Graves could practically feel the waves of self-pity radiating off his ex-subordinate. If Tina´s Auror career was on the dead point before, it was practically buried now. 

But to her defence, Graves saw the very case only few hours before and found nothing wrong with it. Of course, it wasn´t actually the same case, but they couldn´t know that, right? 

They carefully stopped several feet from the case and exchanged quick glances.

“I can sit on it,” Tina suggested. Graves glared at her as if she went mad.

“Tina! It could be dangerous!” Shaking his head, Graves cast the strongest binding charm he could think of on the case. The chains twisted around the leather case like snakes and firmly secured it.

Tina exhaled in relief and then guiltily glanced at Graves. She was aware that this incident was probably the last straw on the pile of her disciplinary problems. Being an Auror was always her dream, she spent countless nights on Ilvermorny studying, instead of having fun with other students, only to pass each test with the flying colours. And after finally getting the chance to join the Auror team, after working so hard to prove herself as useful and skilled Auror, she was about to lose everything because of Mr. Scamander and his case full of crazy fantastic beasts. 

Her gloomy thoughts were torn by Graves leaning forward and taking firm hold of the case.

“Call Obliviators and Reparators. The Zoo is in terrible state, we need to fix it before anyone notices,” Graves ordered. “I´ll take this to MACUSA.”

“Yes, sir. I´m so sorry-”

“Tina!” Graves glared at her but then his stern features somehow softened. “I admit that Mr. Scamander could have chosen better time to visit New York, but this isn´t our largest problem right now, and in the end, case is already secured. I hope that nothing else escaped from it.”

Tina took a step back. “Well…” 

Graves made a step forward with dangerous expression. “You´re joking, right?”

“Well…” Tina swallowed, taking another step back and struggling to avoid his eyes.

“There´s more? Oh, damn it!” Graves looked around. “At least repair the worst damage in the Zoo, we´ll tell that the rest was caused by some crazy animal lovers who wanted _to set the animals free_ or something. And head straight to MACUSA afterwards!”

“Yessir,” Tina practically sobbed. She span on her heel and Apparated to Zoo´s wall to cast a quick Reparo on it. 

Sniffing, Tina turned on the spot, slowly forcing the bricks to fly back on their places like a puzzle. This was probably her last task in MACUSA. When she´s done, she would follow Mr. Graves to MACUSA and there will be a hearing where she´ll have to admit that she caught Mr. Scamander while stalking Second Salemers, and that instead of turning him in, she agreed to catch his crazy beasts on her own. And she hasn´t Obliviate Mr. Kowalski yet! Considering everything, she will be lucky is she only loses her job and doesn´t end in prison too.

“Oh, Merlin,” Tina whispered, finishing the repairs of the hippopotamus´s enclosure. She, a promising Auror, arrested for like _everything_. She could not live the shame. Honestly, she was surprised that Mr. Graves didn´t hex her yet. He had to be furious with her. He was the one who always seemed to support her before, believing in her skills. When she got demoted, he even fought for her. Disappointing Mr. Graves was almost a punishment on its own.

She only hoped that if any other beast escaped Mr. Scamander´s case, it wasn´t neither large nor dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You´re comments help me pull through this flu season. Thank you.<3


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina will get a chance to save her career and Credence will learn more and Queenie than he ever wanted to know.:)

Graves Apparated as close to MACUSA´s headquarters as possible. He didn´t want to carry the mysterious case around too much. Hopefully, the rhino monster from Central Park was the only beast which escaped Scamander´s case. Shuddering, Graves tried not to imagine what would happen if the beast escaped in some heavily populated area.

Not wasting any time, he walked straight to his Department, already barking the orders out when he entered. Those few Aurors, who had night shifts and weren´t patrolling, jumped up from their chairs and rushed to follow the Director.

“And call Madam President,” he added, when he was done explaining the destruction in Central Park´s Zoo. “And check the enchanted map in case there would be more magical activity.” He paused, remembering the Magical Exposure Threat Level. When he promptly marched under it, the hand was pointing to SEVERE.

 _Oh, just no more Obscurus attacks tonight, please_ , Graves thought grimly. Obscurus theory might had been new, but he was already almost sure that it was correct.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Tina rushing in, her head bowed. She avoided his gaze and hesitantly came to stand at his side. Graves allowed himself a small smile.

“Miss Goldstein,” he said, nodding his head.

“I fixed all I could,” Tina said, staring at her own feet. “The team just came before I left. They should be able to take care of everything-”

“Well done,” Graves interrupted her jovially. “Here, take this,” he added, handing the chained case to confused Tina. “It´s your suspect.”

Tina opened her mouth and closed it, not knowing what to do. She expected punishment, maybe some semi-public scolding in front of the other Aurors, instead Mr. Graves sounded almost as if he was content with her.

“Sir?”

“Let´s introduce Mr. Scamander to Madam President,” Graves said aloud, taking Tina´s elbow to lead her to the conference room. He leant closer and Tina could feel his breathe brush her neck when he whispered: “Pretend you followed Scamander because he was suspicious and that you arrested him in Central Park on your own,” he hissed dangerously lowly and Tina shivered.

“Wha-?”

Graves squeezed her elbow with enough force to leave a bruise. “I´m sure that President will be very satisfied with your work,” he said, aloud again. 

Tina discretely glanced around but there were no Aurors close enough to hear what Graves said before. She nodded, unsure what she was getting herself into, and followed Graves to the elevators. 

* * * 

“Honey, stop worrying,” Queenie said gently, patting Credence´s shoulder. They were sitting on the couch together, after she fed the boy soup, remains of strudel and the vanilla pudding which she made only to distract Credence from looking at clocks three times per minute.

“What if some-”

“Please! He´s Director of Magical Security,” Queenie interrupted Credence when he tried to speak up. “Mr. Graves can take care of himself, really.” Sensing his discomfort, she continued, trying to lighten the mood up: “he probably found what Tina did and is in the middle of giving her one of his famous lectures about following rules. Trust me, it wouldn´t be the first time, Teens can be pretty hothead sometimes.”

Credence bit on his lip, unsure if he should try to express his worry again. Queenie´s words didn´t completely calm him, but every time he tried to say something, she spoke up before he could finish more than two words. It was as if she was reading his mind. Was that even possible? Could be his Ma right about witches´ devilish abilities? 

“Would you like another cocoa?” Queenie asked innocently. 

“No, thank you,” Credence said quickly, blushing. He wasn´t used to people being nice to him. “You´re too kind, miss Queenie.”

“Oh, my dear, you´re such a sweetheart,” she said fondly and tried to look at clocks over Credence´s shoulder without him noticing. For once, she was truly grateful that she was the only mind-reader around. Despite what she told to Credence to calm him down, it was almost hour since Tina and Mr. Graves left.

Credence´s thoughts were similar to her own. The boy was slouching on the couch, glancing at the clocks every now and then. He sighed, trying to compose himself. If something happened to Mr. Graves, it would feel like his fault. If he didn´t distract Mr. Graves, if he wasn´t the reason why they came to Goldstein´s apartment, Mr. Graves wouldn´t be in danger right now. He should have stayed in the church. Of course the fate was punishing him for his sinful desires. Credence squeezed his hands in fists. He shouldn´t have lusted for Mr. Graves. It was unnatural and he would surely burn in hell for it. But the idea of leaving Mrs. Barebone for good was so temping. He remembered how Mr. Graves offered him his hand and asked him to leave with him. How could he say no to his idol? He would go to hell and back for Mr. Graves, just to deserve the kindness of the other man.

“Darling,” Queenie said, her smile suddenly very tense. “I´m not sure if I´m allowed to tell you, but you´re right. I can read thoughts. And while I agree that Mr. Graves is very attractive man, I don´t want to imagine him like that. No offense.”

Credence could feel blood rushing to his cheeks until he was as red as tomato. He tried to swallow, but there was suddenly a lump in his throat. Desperate, he prayed that she didn´t hear everything, at least not the part about-

“I´ll make cocoa!” Queenie exclaimed, jumping up and hurrying to the kitchen. 

Groaning, Credence hid his face in his hands, wishing for the floor to just open and swallow him with whole couch. He´d be never able to look either Miss Goldstein in the eye. Or Mr. Graves, for that matter. God, he would be never able to speak to Mr. Graves again without dying of shame.

“Don´t worry, honey,” Queenie called from the sink. “Wizards aren´t as narrow-minded as No-Majs. We understand that there´s nothing wrong about homosexuality.”

 _God_ , Credence thought with rising panic, _make the floor swallow me._


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina is back in full glory. Also, Newt is arrested, again. Jacob just wanders around, getting in trouble like usually.:)

Tina was standing in the middle of briefing room, trying not to be too nervous because of all stares pointed at her. In the elevator, they barely had time to discuss their version of the events with Mr. Graves (honestly, Tina was too bewildered by Graves´s behaviour to argue with his idea) and now, she had to finish the play on her own.

“And then you spoke to Mr. Graves who suggested you to keep an eye on Mr. Scamander in case that your suspicions would turn true?”

“Yes, Madam,” Tina said breathlessly. She swallowed when President´s eyes narrowed. “Yes,” she repeated louder, trying to sound confident. (And not making all up on spot.)

“And he´s in that case right now?” Picquery asked, slowly pacing in front of Tina.

With a sigh, Tina nodded. “Yes, Madam.” 

It felt like interrogation, President and the other importantly looking people surrounding Tina who tried to present her case to them without too many details (like picking Newt up while stalking Second Salemers, or taking No-Maj home for dinner). While she did her best not to sweat though her coat, Mr. Graves was standing at President´s side looking as none of this concerned him at all. Tina frowned. She still wasn´t sure what he was trying to achieve by not blaming her for the chaos Scamander´s creature caused, but knowing him (and Tina knew him, serving under his command for few years already), he had bigger plan. Tina only hoped that the plan counted with her still working at MACUSA in the morning.

“Let us meet Mr. Scamander then,” Picquery decided and Tina carefully placed the case on the floor and raised her wand to unbind the chain spell. 

Glancing from madam President to Mr. Graves, Tina kneeled down and slowly knocked on case´s lid, hoping that Newt would understand it as signal to get out.

He did.

After Tina knocked, a short pause followed and then the lid slowly lifted itself, revealing nervously looking Newt peaking from under it. His attempt at polite smile was met with sea of stern faces, so he averted his gaze back to floor and hesitantly climbed out of the case, soon followed by Mr. Kowalski.

Tina tried not to sigh too aloud.

“Hello,” Newt said in vain attempt to hide his own nervousness. Jacob climbed out of the case after him and gasped, seeing numerous witches and wizards around, glaring suspiciously on the two of them.

“Mr. Scamander,” Picquery said, tilting her head to side, “we´ve been informed that you carry dangerous beasts around in your case.”

“They are not dangerous,” Newt said quickly. He looked around, searching for any sympathetic face among the MACUSA´s wizards, but his nervous smile was met only with ruthless cold eyes. 

Tina swallowed and looked at her feet.

“One of them terrorized Zoo in Central Park,” Picquery accused him and Newt swayed at place, unsure how to plead his case. 

“It was confused,” he said in vain attempt to explain, “lost in unknown environment. It really wasn´t trying to do any harm.”

“But it succeeded nevertheless,” one of the counsellors snapped.

“Well-”

“You let _dangerous_ creature on loose, Mr. Scamander,” Picquery interrupted him, venomously stressing the word. “In the time when we have enough problems with hiding ourselves from the No-Majs. In the time, when another fantastic beast is bringing terror on the city.”

That seemed to catch Newt´s attention. (Through he probably only heard “blah, blah… fantastic beast… blah, blah, blah”).

“A beast, you say?” he asked, taking a step forward only to be immediately at wandpoint of several Aurors. Newt quickly raised his hands and retreated.

“Yes.”

“It´s fair chance that it´s Obscurus,” Graves said, his voice carrying around the room.

“Obscurus?” Voices picked up, repeating the word in various tunes of worry and disbelief.

“There were no Obscurials in States for two hundred years,” someone said.

“It´s can´t be,” another person added, breathlessly.

“Everything fits,” Graves said in flat voice, not trying to persuade anyone, simply stating the facts. “Including the description of ´wind with eyes´. We must consider the possibility that it was Obscurus.”

“Do you have Obscurus in that case?” Picquery asked and the murmur immediately silenced. All eyes were fixed on Newt when he turned white and swallowed.

“Well…”

“Do you?!”

Newt opened his mouth wordlessly and spreaded his arms in helpless gesture. “It´s without host,” he tried, but the wizards around him broke into angry cacophony of shouting. 

“Impound that case, Graves!” Picquery ordered over the panicked cries. Graves reached towards the case and it instantly flied into his hand.

“You can´t!” Newt reached for his wand and the Aurors around pointed theirs at him again, but Graves only waved his hand and Newt was pushed on his knees by an invisible force, his arms pulled behind his back.

“Arrest him, Miss Goldstein,” Graves said to Tina´s surprise. She hesitated, but then obeyed, pulling her own wand out and tying Newt with magical ropes. Two Aurors hurried to grab Newt, while another two took hold of Jacob.

“I´ll take care of the investigation,” Graves said, nodding to Picquery. He gestured the Aurors to take Newt and Jacob, who both struggled in their grip.

“Please don´t hurt my creatures,” Newt begged, desperately. “They´re not dangerous. Don´t hurt them, please. Nothing in that case is dangerous! They´re not dangerous!” He kept screaming his pleas until Aurors forcefully dragged him away, leaving Tina feeling strangely guilty for turning him in. But the case was dangerous, she saw the destruction the rhino thing caused in Zoo. She had to do something to protect the city.

“Seraphina, one moment,” Graves said in lower voice to Picquery, who curiously eyed him. Tina tried her best not to listen, but the conversation caught her attention (especially the way Mr. Graves glanced at her).

It only took few sentences until Graves pulled away from Madam President and motioned Tina to follow him. They both left, surrounded by Aurors waiting for orders. Graves sent some men to patrol the streets, but the most was simply put on alert, because there was no telling where the beast (Obscurus) would attack next.

“You´re going with me, Tina,” Graves said finally, when they reached the elevator. “We must find out if Mr. Scamander really carries an Obscurus in his case.”

“But I´m not Auror anymore,” Tina whispered, afraid to remind Graves the fact that she was demoted. The look he gave her was strangely un-Graves like. If she didn´t know him, she would think that he smirked. But Mr. Graves never smirked.

He smirked anyway, conspiratorially leaning towards Tina. “You are now.”

“But, why?!”

“Let´s say that I reconsidered the events of your demotion and that with Obscurus on loose, we need every skilled Auror on line, not at desk filling forms.”

“I´m Auror again?” Tina asked, unable to process that she wasn´t fired for Scamander incident.

“For now, yes.”

Tina stared at Graves, her eyes round as sausages. She couldn´t believe that after everything, she would get to keep her job. If he wasn´t her boss (and Director of Magical Security), she would hug him. Hell, is she wasn´t sure that he would hex her if she tried, she would really hug him.

“And send a message to your sister, she must be worried.”

“Queenie? Why?”

“She´s babysitting Credence,” Graves whispered, barely moving his lips.

For a moment, Tina tried to process what she heard. Then she threw herself at Graves and hugged him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone who comments on this story, your words are great motivation to me.<3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interrogation scene without Grindelwald. Long story short, everything is better with real Graves.<3

Dark smoke was floating in the air, like an ink spreading through the water. It´s tendrils slowly swirled around it with mesmerizing elegance. There was sense of transparency but in the same time, it looked alive and curious, testing its own ability of the movement. The energy hidden under the soft smoke was undeniable, despite its almost lazy whirling.

It was hard to focus on anything else than the floating motion of the cloud trapped in the small magical field. Graves tried not to glance at it every few second, but he still kept it in the corner of his vision field, despite the British magizoologist was persistently claiming the Obscurus to be harmless in its bubble.

“So you tried to take it away from the host, right?” Graves asked, moving his attention back to Mr. Scamander. They were in the interrogation room, the Obscurus floating above the table between them while Tina was nervously hovering behind Graves´s back.

Newt glanced at the Obscurus, at Graves (avoiding eye-contact) and then back at the desk between them. “Yes. It-it was just a little girl and they threated her very badly. They… were afraid of her.” The memory of dealing with Obscurial clearly disturbed him, but Graves couldn´t allow him time to mop about it. Also, he could quite sympathize with them, whoever they were. Obscurus on loose had to be a terrifying sight, considering the damage it probably caused in New York.

“And you´re sure that this one couldn´t escape from your case?”

“It couldn´t!” Newt exclaimed, horrified by the idea. He leant forward Graves, a gesture rarely seen in the interrogation room. But Newt didn´t look like usual criminals whom Graves used to interrogate. “It can´t survive outside of its barrier without a host.” He looked up at Tina standing behind Graves´s back. “It´s safely kept in my case, it couldn´t hurt anyone, Tina.”

Safe wasn´t exactly a word Graves would use to describe an Obscurus in any state, but he understood the necessity of connection between the magical parasite and its host.

“So it couldn´t cause any damage?”

“No!” Newt desperately shook his head, ginger hair falling into his eyes.

“So without a host, it´s harmless?”

“Yes!” It seemed that finally getting his point through relieved Newt. “It´s parasitic magical force, without a host, it couldn´t do anything,” he repeated, more to Tina than to Graves. 

Graves nodded. He glanced at the trapped Obscurus again, letting Newt cast pleading looks at Tina. It seemed to him that Brit was desperate to persuade Tina that his beast didn´t hurt anyone. And while Graves was willing to believe him (at least because Newt came in New York only after weeks of suspected Obscurus´s attacks), it didn´t mean that he could be persuaded that the other beasts from the case were equally safe.

“What else escaped from your case, Mr. Scamander?” he asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

Newt swallowed and glanced at Tina again. Graves didn´t have to turn around to check Tina´s expression to know that it probably matched his own.

“What else?”

“Nothing dangerous,” Newt said slowly. “It´s just my Demiguise, Dougal. Demiguises aren´t harmful at all, on contrary, wizards hurt them a lot to-”

“We know what´s Demiguise,” Graves interrupted him. “Am I correct that it can turn invisible?”

Newt´s ears turned pink. “Occasionally.” 

“How are we supposed to find something invisible?” Tina exclaimed, unable to keep silent anymore. Graves silently praised her for holding back for so long. He was sure that she wanted to interrupt the interrogation for at least hundred times so far.

“I…” Newt thoughtfully rocked in his chair. “It could be tricky,” he admitted. “Maybe we could try to get some information from the locals. There´re people interested in the fantastic beasts in every town.”

“There´s no we,” Graves said dangerously sweetly, waving his hand between Newt and him and Tina. “When Miss Goldstein wondered how could we find the Demiguise, she meant me and herself. We´re Aurors. It´s our job to keep this city safe. Not yours, Mr. Scamander.”

“But Dougal is mine!”

“And you definitely will be charged for illegally keeping a Demiguise,” Graves said, “but for now, our priority is to ensued safety of New Yorkers. Once all your beasts are back in the case, you´ll get your chance to explain why are you carrying them around the city where even Puffskeins aren´t allowed.”

“But I know Dougal! I can find his easier than any of your Aurors! No offense,” Newt quickly added, glancing at Tina again. 

Graves could see her shrug with the corner of his eye. But he also could see the Obscurus swirl faster in its bubble on the other side, probably roused by Newt´s raised voice.

“How much do you know of Obscurus, Mr. Scamander?” he asked, startling Newt enough to look at him again.

Newt shrugged as much as he could with the hands still secured behind his back “I tried to study it…”

“If you saw the damage caused by an Obscurus, would you be able to tell it from the damage caused by something else?”

“Of course, their powers are very specific.”

Graves pulled a file from under his coat and pushed it towards Newt on the table. He could see Tina lean over his shoulder to glance inside. It was file with photos from all places where the mysterious attacks happened during the last month. Newt gasped, leaning closer.

“Was it an Obscurus?” Graves asked quietly, leaning his elbows on the table, and Newt flinched, startled from his examination of the photos.

He swallowed, looking up and for the probably first time, he held Graves´s gaze. “I´m afraid, yes.”

Graves exchanged worried looks with Tina. This was definitely a bad news. It was one thing to suspect that a creature like this was rampaging in their city, and completely the other to have it confirmed. Graves tried to remember what he knew of Obscurus. It wasn´t much, but he knew that the magical parasites were dangerous and that they fed on children who supressed their magical powers and usually were young, under ten or so.

“Your case will have to wait, Mr. Scamander, I´m afraid,” Graves said after a pause. “The Obscurus is our priority now.”

Newt opened his mouth to say something but then he only shrugged, unable to argue with Graves. But while he might be afraid of Obscurus, he was also concerned with his Demiguise. Maybe a bit more concerned that would be healthy, Graves noticed.

“What about Dougal? He´s all alone in an unknown environment.”

“I can help Mr. Scamander to capture it,” Tina suggested, laying her hand on the back of Graves´s chair. Graves glanced back at her.

“Can you manage that?”

Tina´s determined expression turned to heartbroken in split second. “I´m professional!” she complained, offended by the lack of trust in her skills. Graves frowned at her.

“And that beast is invisible. In a city as large as New York,” he reminded.

“I know of someone who might aid us,” Newt said, trying to be helpful. “We can visit him and ask for tips.”

“Brilliant idea,” Graves said. “You just seem to forget that you´re arrested, Mr. Scamander.”

Newt blushed, as if he really didn´t realize that. It was almost ridiculous, how focused he was on his creatures and how absentminded of everything else. Graves had to wonder how the man even survived travelling around the different environment. His passport was full of stamps from all over the world and yet the British wizard seemed unable to take care even of himself, less so of the case full of fantastic beasts. Graves made a mental note to himself to make sure that said case wouldn´t be returned to Scamander under any circumstances.

“Letting you wander around the city unsupervised would be irresponsible,” Graves said finally. “And that´s why Miss Goldstein will go with you,” he decided. “You will capture the Demiguise and return with it here. Afterwards, MASUCA would be grateful if you could provide us with all information about Obscurus that you have, Mr. Scamander.”

Newt raised his eyebrows and shyly smiled. “So you will not arrest me?” he asked hopefully.

“We´ll try to settle this incident with the fine only,” Graves retorted.

“Great, thank you so much!”

“But your case is staying in my office until we check its contents.”

This made Newt turn ashen, but he cleared his throat and nodded, unable to think up any objections quick enough. And that was how he ended at Tina´s desk again, where she left him to wait until she would check on Jacob. 

It was also the place where Newt was sitting at, feeling a bit lost in unknown space, when all the alarms of MACUSA went off and all the hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In next chapter, we´ll see Credence again. People, I really look forward writing about him again, he´s such a sweet character.<3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alarms went off, wailing as sirens. Newt watched in worry as Aurors rushed to the stairs, leaving him alone at Tina´s table. He had no idea what was going on, but it sounded like great emergency and he remembered the photos of Obscurus-caused destruction from the file which Tina´s boss showed him.
> 
> He could feel fear rising up in his chest.

“How long it´s been?” Credence asked, unable to supress his worry anymore. He felt like hours had passed since Mr. Graves rushed away to aid Miss Goldstein. And neither of them returned yet. There weren´t any messages either and not even all the food Miss Queenie forced him to eat couldn´t distract Credence from thinking of the worst.

“I´m sure they´ll be back soon,” Queenie said tensely. She was sitting next to Credence on the small sofa, her hands firmly clenched in her lap.

Credence tried not to think about his rising panic, or about the fact that despite soothing him, Queenie didn´t look any calmer herself. Or thinking about anything at all. Really, the fact that she could read his mind almost frightened him more that the absence of Mr. Graves. If his Ma had the same ability, she would probably tried to burn him at stake already.

She would also beat soul out of him if he ever tried to return after running away in the first place.

“Why would you want to return there?” Queenie exclaimed, making Credence flinch. For a moment, he had to think what she was referring to.

“I have nowhere else to go,” he said hesitantly, focusing on keeping his mind blank.

“You can stay with us,” Queenie volunteered. “Well, Mrs. Esposito would probably object, but I´m sure we could think up something.”

 _Or I´ll end in street as Ma always threatened_ , Credence thought.

“Or,” Queenie said strictly, “you´ll stay with Mr. Graves. I know that you would like that, don´t try to deny it. Please don´t get offended, but your Oclumency is practically non-existent.”

If Credence knew what the Oclumie-thing was, he could consider getting offended, but this way, he only felt more confused. And somehow trapped, in this lovely apartment, with this lovely (scary) witch, while Mr. Graves was risking his life outside, fighting God knows what. Credence rubbed his chest which suddenly felt very tight.

“Calm down,” Queenie said, reaching to Credence´s shoulder, but he pulled away, jumping off the couch. “You´re hyperventilating, honey,” Queenie said softly, while Credence paced around the room.

Tension in his chest was overwhelming and he just _needed_ it out. _It_ needed out.

“It? What do you mean?” Queenie asked, her pretty face twisting in confusion. She made a motion as if she wanted to get up but Credence raised his hand to stop her.

“Please, stay away from me.”

She tilted her head to side, as if listening to someone who wasn´t there. _She´s reading my mind again_ , Credence thought in panic. He panted, quickly backing away from the blond witch.

“Darling,” she said softly, “I´m not going to hurt you. You´re safe with me.”

“I´m _never_ safe,” Credence said though clenched teeth. He was swaying at spot, unable to stay still. Queenie´s expression was slowly turning from confused to worried and Credence realized that she felt the turmoil in him.

“I can help you,” she tried, but it was too late.

“I don´t need help,” Credence gritted out, before the room turned black and he exploded in the whirl of black smoke. 

Queenie gasped, frozen in her seat when the mass of darkness flied up, hit the ceiling and with a screeching noise burst out of the window, taking a good portion of wall around with itself. She rushed to the hole in the wall and reached it in time to see the monstrous thing twist through the city, wreaking havoc. It tore thought the pavements, sending the cars to fly around, demolishing everything in its way. Queenie pressed a palm to her mouth, watching the Obscurus leave destruction and chaos in its wake.

* * * 

Alarms went off, wailing as sirens. Newt watched in worry as Aurors rushed to the stairs, leaving him alone at Tina´s table. He had no idea what was going on, but it sounded like great emergency and he remembered the photos of Obscurus-caused destruction from the file which Tina´s boss showed him.

He could feel fear rising up in his chest.

_Merlin, an Obscurus. Strong enough to cause so much damage._

And then, the fear turned to panic-

_Dougal!_

His poor Demiguise was all alone, outside, where he could get in Obscurus´s way. Dougal had practically no fighting abilities, he could never stand against a beast like Obscurus. And his invisibility and his foreseeing of the probable future wouldn´t protect him if Obscurus decided to tear down the building where Dougal would be hiding.

Newt rocked in his chair, unsure what to do. He promised to wait for Tina and if he broke this promise, the chances of not ending in jail (and more importantly, of not getting his case confiscated) would drop dramatically. 

But if he waited too long and something would happen to Dougal…

Newt was half ready to take his chances and try to escape, when Tina finally rushed to him, Jacob in her wake. Newt would be happier to see the No-Maj man, if it wasn´t under so grave circumstances.

“What´s going on?” he asked, not giving Tina chance to even catch her breathe.

“An attack. Close to my place,” she said hastily, anxiety in her voice clear even to Newt, who wasn´t good with reading people.

“Oh, is Queenie all right?” Jacob asked nervously, thinking of the beautiful, sweet woman he only just met.

“I´m sure she´s fine,” Tina said. “She´s skilled witch, she could just Apparate away.”

Newt and Jacob exchanged worried looks. It sounded like Tina was trying to reassure herself that her sister was all right. And Credence! Poor boy, if he had to witness such destruction. But she couldn´t tell Newt and Jacob about him. Mr. Graves warned her that Credence´s presence in her apartment was secret, as the boy wasn´t officially part of the wizard community yet, despite his magical origins.

“Really, Queenie knows how to take care of herself,” she repeated, more confidently this time. “We must find Newt´s Demiguise first, then I´ll join Obscurus-hunt.”

“Hunt?” Newt asked, his voice rising up. “It´s no animal to be hunted, but a parasite feeding on human child. You want to hunt a child?!”

Tina opened her mouth to argue with him, but suddenly realizing that there was nothing she could say. Of course, she forgot about the Obscurial. If it was a child, they had to help it. But the Obscurus was dangerous and could hurt many people. She didn´t know what to say.

“Let´s save your Demigusse first,” Jacob offered, breaking the tense silence between the wizards. “After it´s back in the case, we can look at that… that other thing. What was it even?”

“Obscurus,” Newt retorted, unable not to react on question about magical creatures. Tina cleared her throat.

“Let´s go,” she said. “You can explain Obscurus on our way. I´d like to hear of it myself.”

Newt nodded, and he and Jacob followed Tina out of the Woolworth Building. Jacob kept looking around in awe, staring at every display of magic with such wonder that it would surely attract attention of the guards, if there were any guards left. Luckily to them, most of Aurors rushed to track the Obscurus, so no one could stop Tina from practically kidnapping Jacob from MACUSA´s jail.

Once outside, Tina grabbed each man with one hand, Apparating all of them away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Typed most of this right after posting the previous chapter. Couldn´t stop myself from writing about Credence. Because, Credence!<3


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The city looked gray and colourless underneath. The Obscurus rushed through it, slashing at everything in its way. Inside of the shapeless dark mass, blood-red core shifted, roaring at the sky.

The Woolworth Building was swarming with activity. All Aurors were getting ready to face the potential Obscurus, while the rest of staff was trying not to get in their way. Even the President herself was there, giving orders to a group of senior Aurors around her, who were supposed to protect the important senators of MACUSA.

Graves ignored the chaos and stood in the middle of it like a single solid stone in the wild sea. He had several Aurors and Obliviators around himself, intently listening to his directions. It wasn´t time to hope for the best, but to prepare for the worst. The question wasn´t whenever it was or wasn´t an Obscurus what attacked New York, but what to do if it was that.

“And make sure that every No-Maj witness is obliviated,” he finished, dismissing his men and women. Over the mass of hurrying people, he noticed a woman with familiarly blond hair frantically waving at him. “Go,” he said to hi Aurors, and moved towards Queenie.

“Mr. Graves!” she cried, trying to outshout the noise around. The wizards pushed her backwards with their motion towards the entrance and she struggled to push thought them. “Graves!” There was panic in her gentle voice.

Graves marched towards her, wading through the crowd much effectively than her. The Aurors around tried to move from his way the moment they saw his dark expression. Some were even pushed aside by wandless magic emitting from him.

“Graves!”

He finally reached Queenie and she grabbed his coat to avoid being pulled away by the crowd. Seeing the Director of Magical Security, wizards quickly dodged them, creating a small space around Graves and Queenie. Graves caught elbow of the younger witch to support her when she swayed at her feet. She was still wearing her nightgown with a bathrobe hanging wide open.

“Where is he?” Graves demanded, probably more worried than he should be. Credence was surely safe. He _had_ to be.

His worst worries came true when Queenie swallowed and whispered a single word:

“Credence.”

The weight of world crushed down on Graves. He shouldn´t have left the boy alone, what was he thinking? He should have protected Credence. After everything, after promising the boy that he would take care of him, he failed.

“What-” his voice broke off and Graves had to clear his throat to continue: “what happened?” he asked, praying that Credence was all right by some miracle. 

“Obscurus,” Queenie said, digging her nails into Graves´s shoulder. She was still gripping the edge of his coat with the other hand and she pulled him closer by it, fiercely shaking her head when she felt the echo of his panic. Graves might have been expert on Occlumency, but under such circumstances, even he couldn´t hold back all his emotions.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Queenie was faster. “No, you don´t get it,” she talked so fast that he had to lean closer to hear her over the noise in the hall. “He´s it. Obscurus. It´s Credence!”

“What?”

It didn´t make sense. Graves started pulling away to go and see himself if he could help Credence somehow, but Queenie didn´t let go of him. She stood on tiptoes of her bare feet to get on eye-level with Graves.

“Credence is Obscurus, Graves,” she said, her face more serious than he ever saw her to be. “He got worried about you and Tina, I tried to calm him down but he panicked and then just-” unable to find the right words, she let go of Graves and made explosive gesture with her hands. “Buff. He turned to dark smoke and crushed though wall out.”

Graves looked away from her, gears turning in his head. It couldn´t be true, Credence was too old. But he had magic in him, supressed magic, hidden among the people who hated wizards. He was a perfect host for an Obscurus. But he was too old. How could he be one? 

Taking a deep breathe, Graves turned back to Queenie, who waited on his reaction with worried look in her pretty face. He knew that he should worry about New York currently under attack of Obscurus, that as the head of security he had duties to follow, people to protect. It was his responsibility. 

But right now, none of that mattered.

“Where is he?” he demanded.

* * * 

The city looked gray and colourless underneath. The Obscurus rushed through it, slashing at everything in its way. Inside of the shapeless dark mass, blood-red core shifted, roaring at the sky.

Credence felt cold. The fear consumed him, making him unable to see beyond the black cloud surrounding him. The sense of being weightless was strangely familiar and unpleasant. He felt lost in the noise of wind blowing and people shouting. He couldn´t control his own body, or even feel it. Panic threatened to swallow Credence part by part when he realized that he was completely out of control, that the hungry tension in his chest escaped again and that it was carrying him away.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it. 

He was never able to control that tension. It was always there, since he was mere child, waiting for a moment he would lose hold of his emotions.

_What if he didn´t regain his senses this time?_

The idea troubled Credence every time the tension took over him. He would wake up later, alone and confused, somewhere else than where he was before, not having any memories of going there. But what if he didn´t wake up this time?

A blast of light hit his side and Credence roared. The hit was more annoying than hurtful, but it took him completely by surprise. Another blast came from the other side and Credence unconsciously shrunk under it. 

He didn´t like it. He wanted it to stop, to get away from the attacks. In swirl of darkness, he dodged another spear of light coming his way, crushing down on the street. The pavement tore under his touch and Credence flied up again, speeding up to escape his chasers.

More light bolts came flying from both sides, some grazing edges of Credence´s shapeless form. He shrieked so loud that the closest windows exploded, showering him with glass. The shreds fell right through him as if he didn´t have any corporeal body, but when another light attack came, he felt its hit, hissing in pain under it.

It had to stop. NOW!

Black mass of the Obscurus abruptly changed its way, crashing into the roof from which the blasts came. People in coats whirled away in the blink of eye, reappearing on the next roof, away from Credence´s reach. He shrieked in frustration, trying to follow, but they vanished again and again.

He turned down, destroying cars underneath. Lost in anger and pain, Credence swirled on the spot, unsure what to do, where to go. He had nowhere to go now.

He was lost.

Policemen crunching behind their cars pointed their guns at him. Credence watched them and shrunk away when they started firing, provoking the creature in him. The cloud crushed over them like a wave, sending their cars flying to every direction. The policemen retreated in panic, unable to face the unknown beast in front of them.

Roaring, Credence flied up, spiralling around unfinished skyscraper, bending the metal girders as if they were made of clay. On the top, he stopped for a second, trying to regain his senses and failing. He was ready to hurl himself back down for the lack of anything else to do when a familiar voice rose over the howling of the wind.

“CREDENCE!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all kudos and comments, you´re really kind to me.<3


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Credence, oh Credence.<3

Graves stared at Queenie, not believing what he was hearing. Or rather, he didn´t want to believe it, but it all made _fucking sense_. Of course, a kid like Credence, of magical origins but raised by woman who hated magic with all her might, kid like that was a perfect host for the Obscurus.

How could he not see it before?

But Obscurials never survived past ten. Clenching his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms, Graves tried to control himself, but failed. The cold worry clenched his gut, spreading like poison.

If Credence was an Obscurial, what would happen to him? And Graves looked over Queenie at the crowd of Aurors hurrying to their duty to protect New York by any means possible. They would do anything to stop Obscurus from endangering the city. Seraphina would order them to destroy it rather than risk that it would reveal the magic to No-Majs.

They were going to hunt Credence down like a beast.

“No,” he breathed out. Queenie gasped, covering her mouth with a hand.

“Would they really hurt him?” she asked, disturbed by the echo of worry she felt from Graves´s mind. His face hardened in the way that almost frightened her.

“No,” he retorted, dangerously calmly. There was confidence in the single word that made shivers run down Queenie´s back. She knew Graves only as Tina´s boss, as someone who worked at MACUSA and got a high rank. She knew he was an extraordinarily skilled wizard.

But until this day, she never really saw Graves as Auror. His features were serious and hard, undeniable aura of power around him. It reminded Queenie of the storm tearing down everything in its way with its wild natural power. Graves was like that right now, unstoppable and powerful storm that would crush anything in its way without pity, without any consideration.

“No,” he said, calmly. “I´ll take care about it.”

Queenie nodded, silently stepping out if his way. She caught glimpses of Credence´s feelings for Graves before and now, she had a feeling that it wasn´t just one-sided affection. That if Credence´s life was at stake, Graves would do anything to protect him (and Merlin save those who would dare to stand in his way while he does so).

“Stay here, Tina and Scamander should return soon,” Graves told her, before leaving the key from his office in her hands and rushing away. Queenie watched him go, praying that he would get to Credence in time to protect the poor boy from Aurors. There was so much she heard about the kid from her sister. She wished the kid would be all right, that there was still time to save him.

She transfigurated her clothes to something more decent than the nightgown and went to the elevator. It was a rare privilege to be allowed into the office of the Director of Magical security, despite that there wasn´t anything worth stealing in there. Graves barely kept anything besides the furniture and paperwork in his office, and a set of pens and maybe some detectors of the dark magic could be nice to look at, but they all lacked any real value. 

It all made Queenie´s surprise greater when she entered the empty looking room only to find the familiar brown suitcase on Graves´s desk. Taken aback, Queenie stopped at the threshold, unsure if she was really allowed in, but if Graves gave her the key, maybe he wouldn´t mind if she looked closer on the case. Carefully, she closed the door behind her and hurried closer, running her fingers over the brown leather. 

Newt´s case of the beasts, wow.

And for a good measure, double wow. This was the reason why Teens dragged the guy to their flat and wanted to watch over him. This was, where the British wizard supposedly kept all the forbidden beasts.

The case shook.

 _Okay_ , Queenie thought, taking a step back. This was also the case from which some dangerous beasts escaped and caused alarm in Zoo in the Central Park. But if Tina went to catch the escaped beasts, wouldn´t she need the case to put them into?

Maybe she needed it right now.

Queenie looked over her shoulder, half expecting Graves to appear in the door and scold her for even thinking about it. But of course, he was out there, chasing incredibly dangerous fantastic creature in attempt to save it instead of destroy it.

Maybe Tina could use some help too.

Biting her lip, Queenie rocked on her heels, trying to decide what to do with the opportunity in front of her. _If I return the case soon, Mr. Graves doesn´t even need to know that it was gone_ , she thought, persuading herself that she couldn´t possibly leave the case on Graves´s desk.

_It he wanted it secured, he would lock it somewhere instead of just letting it lie on his desk, right?_

Okay, that was it. She just had to borrow the case so when Tina catches beasts which escaped from it, she would be able to put them back in.

Launching herself towards the desk, Queenie grabbed the case and hurried to the door, carefully putting on the mask of absolute innocence, while she carried the damned case out of the Woolworth building. She smiled at Abernathy who paced in the entrance hall without breaking the pace and headed right to the door.

_Just wait, Teens. I´m coming._

* * * 

_Just wait, Credence_ , Graves thought grimly, Apparating in the direction of the overall chaos. 

It was worse than any of the previous attacks. From what Graves saw, it seemed that the Obscurus was destroying everything in its way, leaving only crushed cars and torn pavements in its wake.

There was no way Seraphina would let it escape this time. This level of magic could actually attract the No-Maj´s attention and if there was one think that Seraphina was truly obsessed about, it was keeping the Law of secrecy. She would never allow anything to break it in her city.

She would order the Obscurus to be killed, Graves realized with dread.

There was no-way-in-hell he would let that happen! If he has to shield Credence with all his magic, he would, but not a single Auror would lay their hands on the boy. Not while Graves was still breathing. 

He noticed glimpses of spells at the north and headed that way. The Aurors seemed to be firing the hexes randomly at the sky, but when Graves Apparated closer, he realized that they didn´t attack the dark sky, but a huge mass of black dust swirling above their heads.

Gasping, he hesitated, unsure what to do. Would be Credence capable to hear him in this form? Could he even get closer without being torn apart by the dark cloud like the cars lying scattered on the street? Would it make any difference?

Then a red spell hit Obscurus´s side and the creature flinched under the impact, apparently pained by it.

 _It can be hurt_ , Graves realized and without thinking, he Apparated at the street level.

“Stop attacking it!” Graves screamed at the top of his lungs, standing between his Aurors and Obscurus with arms spread wide. He was ready to protect Credence with his body if he had to, finally admitting that his feelings for the boy weren´t just pity and kindness. (That there was something selfish underneath, making him willing to fight for the boy, even if it meant firing spells back at his own men.)

“Stop!”

They hesitated, surprised by their Director´s actions. Graves noticed Seraphina Apparating further down the street, marching towards them with cold expression on her face. He couldn´t let her close to Credence. She wouldn´t understand.

Policemen crunching behind their cars pointed their guns at Obscurus and before Graves could turn to them, they opened the fire. He pulled the wand out with speed gained by experience but Obscurus was faster, crushing over policemen like a wave, sending their cars flying to every direction. The policemen retreated in panic, unable to face the unknown beast in front of them.

With a roar, Obscurus rose up, spiralling around unfinished skyscraper, bending the metal girders as if they were made of clay. Graves watched it with mixture of worry and awe, unable to process that this, this _thing_ was his Credence.

His Credence.

He Apparated at the top of building where Obscurus was floating like black stain in the water. Smoke tendrils wrapped themselves around the main mass of the Obscurus as if the creature was trying to hug itself.

To see Credence like this made Graves´s heart ache and he stepped forward, determined to save him from everything.

“CREDENCE!” he yelled, trying to raise his voice above the howling of the wind.

For a second, it seemed to work, Obscurus turning in his direction with a sort of predatory curiosity. Graves wondered if Credence could see him, if he was inside of the dark smoke, or somehow turned into that smoke.

“Credence! Come here, I´ll help you!”

Obscurus rose up, floating above Graves. From the corner of his eye, Graves could see Aurors Apparating at the roof around, to provide backup for him. He prayed they would stay behind.

“Let me take care about you, Credence!” he yelled, reaching his hands towards the cloud. “Let me help!”

“What are you waiting for?” Seraphina´s sharp voice asked behind and Graves´s chest tightened. “Attack it!”

“No!”

Spells flied left and right, hitting the dark cloud. They made it swirl with insane speed and then fall down, right towards Graves standing under it.

Only fast reflexes of an Auror saved Graves from being crushed under the Obscurus. In the last moment, he Disapparated to side, only to helplessly watch the smoke rush down by the side of building.

“CREDENCE!” he screamed, jumping from the roof and Disapparating.

_They´re not killing him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love reading comments (not trying to suggest anything;)


	15. Chapter 15

Queenie almost managed to catch up with the other in the Blind Pig, but they left it before she arrived. At least the house elf at the bar told her where they go. (Told in meaning that he thought of it when she asked, not that he actually said it aloud, of course.)

Nervously fidgeting with the locks on the case in her hands, Queenie Apparated into the Macy’s department store where Demiguise was supposed to be hiding. Her heels were clicking on the marble floor while she hurried through the shop, trying to spot any sign of the others being there.

And then she spotted Tina, crunching behind a small decorative tree.

“Teens!” Queenie called in muffled voice. She waved her free hand furiously until her sister spotted her and she rushed to Tina. 

“Queenie!” Tina hissed, straightening up. “What are you doing here?”

“I brought the case,” Queenie said cheerfully, showing Tina the case in her hands.

“Merlin bless you!” Newt said, grabbing the case with both hands. He practically tore it out of Queenie´s hands and pressed it to his chest, hugging it as a long lost child.

“Uhm, you´re welcome, Mr. Scamander,” Queenie said, only now noticing that Newt and Jacob were accompanying Tina. “Hello, Mr. Kowalski.” She warmly smiled at Jacob, who blushed. “It´s nice to see you again.”

“Pleasure is all mine,” he said, bowing like a gentleman. The task of capturing Demiguise was immediately forgotten to him and he stared at the blond witch as if she was an oasis in the middle of desert.

“I thought they would try to confiscate them,” Newt murmured under his breath. “Oh, it´s all right now,” he continued, with lips pressed against the side of the case. “You´re safe.”

“Well…” Queenie didn´t want to bring the bad news, but she felt that Newt should know that his case was actually still confiscated and she only “borrowed it” for the sake of catching the remaining beasts. “I´m not sure that you´ll be allowed to keep it, honey,” she said guiltily, rubbing Newt´s shoulder to comfort him a bit.

“What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously, taking a step back from her as if she was about to snatch the case out of his hands.

“Queenie?” Tina insisted when her sister hesitated and glanced at her with apologetic expression. She knew Queenie well enough to know that her sister did something she was ashamed of, despite she probably had good intentions (because Queenie always had good intentions). “What have you done?”

“Mr. Graves told me to wait in his office,” Queenie started nervously. “The case just happened to be on the desk-”

“You stole it?” Tina gasped in disbelief. “From Graves?”

Queenie attempted an innocent smile but it turned into guilty grimace. But before she could apologize, the mention of Graves reminded her something much more serious.

“Look, there is one more thing you need to know,” she started, but was interrupted by the sight of a handbag floating in the air behind Tina. Her eyes widened and she stared at the handbag with parted lips, unsure if she should point at it or try to wipe her eyes. Others noticed her expression and turned to look at the sweets flying into the bag seemingly on their own accord.

“Ah,” Newt said contently, “and here comes Dougal.”

The group tip-toed closer to watch a silver-haired creature materialize over the sweets display. It looked kind like an orang-utan, but when it glanced their way, the face was much less apish than one would expect.

Newt was eagerly whispering something about Demiguises´s characteristic, but his companions were too bewildered by the sight in front of them to pay him any attention. Only Jacob listened, curious about anything magical. 

“Well,” Newt half turned to his team, never actually tearing his eyes off the Demiguise which was busy stuffing sweets into its handbag. “You two, head that way,” Newt said to Queenie and Jacob.

They exchanged startled looks but obeyed.

“And try very hard not to be predictable,” Newt called after them, which made both Jacob and Queenie pause with perplexed expressions, but then they kept walking in the direction where Newt sent them.

Tina and Newt began sneaking towards the Demiguise, but it snapped its head up, listening to some distant roar, before it quickly shovelled more sweets into its handbag. Tina gave Newt a worried glance.

“Was that Demiguise?” she asked tensely and he shook his head.

“No, I think it might be the reason why the Demiguise is here.”

Tina waited for more explanation, but Newt was fully focused on Demiguise now. He silently sneaked forward it, with Tina tailing him, when suddenly the Demiguise jumped down from sweets display and hurried further away. Newt speeded up and the Demiguise had to hear his steps because it glanced over its shoulder, spotting Newt and Tina. To Tina´s surprise, the beast didn´t start running away, in only looked at them and then continued towards the stairs leading up.

They followed it to a dark attic space filled with shelves with various contents, mostly china and kitchenware. The Demiguise strode forward purposefully, seemingly having some specific goal in its mind. It stopped in the pool of moonlight and looked around as if searching for something.

Curious about its behaviour, Tina was about to ask Newt what it was looking for, but Newt outran her, whispering as quiet as he could: 

“Its sight operates on probability, so it can foresee the most likely immediate future,” he said, carefully sneaking behind the Demiguise.

“So what’s it doing now?” Tina whispered back. She had a feeling of something bad going to happen _right now_ , sort of awareness that made her such a good Auror.

“It´s babysitting,” came the reply, when the Demiguise held up one of the sweets as if offering it to someone or something.

“What did you just say?”

Newt caster her a quick look that was probably supposed to be reassuring, but it only spooked Tina more because she was fast learner and she already knew what it meant to see this expression on Newt.

“This is my fault,” Newt whispered. “I thought I had them all, but I must have miscounted.”

In that moment, shadow looming over the Demiguise moved and Tina had to bit her lips not to gasp when the shadow untangled itself from the curled form to reveal huge blue snake covered in scales and feathers, staring down at Demiguise over its very, very sharp beak.

Unable to hold back any longer, Tina spoke up in horror: “It was babysitting _that_?”

“It´s an Occamy,” Newt offered uselessly and if Tina wasn´t afraid to move, she would have hit him.

* * *

It appeared that capturing an Occamy was easier than Tina would have expected when she first saw it and could only compare its length to a train wagon. In the end, they only needed a roach, a teapot and some really gymnastic moves to make huge bird-like snake shrink from _monstrous_ to _baby snake_ size.

When they were done and both Occamy and Dougal were safely back in the case, Queenie clasped her hands together to get everyone´s attention. Right now, she was really glad that others couldn´t read minds like she could.

“Well…” she twisted her fingers together and turned to Newt, “Mr. Scamander, what do you know about Obscurials?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dialogues from capturing the Occamy part are from actualy movie, not made by me. No offense of copyrights meant.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spells flied left and right, hitting the dark cloud. They made it swirl with insane speed and then fall down, right towards Graves standing under it. Only fast reflexes of an Auror saved Graves from being crushed under the Obscurus. In the last moment, he Disapparated to side, only to helplessly watch the smoke rush down by the side of building.
> 
> “CREDENCE!” he screamed, jumping from the roof and Disapparating.
> 
> _They´re not killing him._

Credence flied away from the hurtful lights, searching for any way of escaping them. He crushed through the buildings in his way and in a wild spiral descended into the subway. The darkness around him was whispering for more destruction, but Credence was simply afraid and wanted to get away from everything.

Trailing the damage in Obscurus´s wake, Aurors followed it til the subway entrance, but none of them dared to descend into the poorly lit up space with the howling monster. Graves was the only one who marched right to the stairs leading down.

“Set up barriers,” he barked over his shoulder. “I don´t want anyone going there, got it?” Hoping that his orders would be followed, he rushed down, unsure what he should do. Before, on the roof , the Obscurus seemed to be capable to hear him, or at least somehow react on his familiar presence. Graves hoped that it would happen again, because after seeing Obscurus´s capabilities, he was sure that he couldn’t stop it by force, at least not without hurting Credence in the process.

“Credence?” he called out carefully, when reaching the subway level. The shadows seemed dark everywhere and if there was the Obscurus hiding in some of them, it was impossible to tell on the first glance. 

Graves slowly moved between the pillars, trying to check every corner. Everything looked still, but he couldn´t shake off the feeling of not being alone in there.

“Credence?”

There was movement somewhere at the edge of his vision field and Graves slowly turned towards it, struggling to appear calm. His heart was hammering in his chest when he faced the dark cloud floating just under the ceiling. It was softly vibrating and seemed to grow a bit under his stare.

Graves cleared his throat and spoke up, forcing his voice to be relaxed despite every fibre in his body was tense: “Hello, Credence.”

The cloud didn´t react, but it didn´t attack either and Graves decided to take that as a good sign. (Or at least as a sign that he could keep talking instead of running away.)

“Are you all right?”

The cloud darkened, its core turning dangerously red and Graves raised his hands up to show that he wasn´t armed. He wasn´t sure how to speak to the Obscurus, what to say to calm it down, but he needed to get Credence back into human form before Picquery would bring in enforcements and order them to attack again.

“I knew that you had magic in you, Credence,” Graves said. “I sensed it in you.” He watched the cloud to relax again, whirling slowly under the ceiling. “There must be so much magic, Credence. And so supressed. It had to be hard to hide it from woman like Mary Lou, right?”

Obscurus tensed again, growing until it covered most of the ceiling. Graves fought all his instincts to stay still and to appear as harmless as possible. He carefully judged the distance from the darkness above his head, wondering if there would be enough time to Disapparate if it decided to attack. (Probably no.)

“You must be very strong, if you managed to live with something like this for so long,” he said aloud. “With all that magic, with all that power, you can learn to control it.”

The Obscurus froze in the middle of its whirling. Graves´s breathe hitched in his throat when the cloud slowly descended, until it was so close that if he reached his hand up, he could probably touch it.

“You can learn magic, Credence. I promised to teach you, remember?”

Torturously slowly, the dark mass flowed down the opposite wall, leaving a crunched figure underneath. Graves watched as a boy materialized under the cloud, Obscurus sinking into his skin, leaving Credence sitting on the cold floor.

Not daring to make any unexpected moves, Graves remained where he stood, waiting for any sign that he was allowed to get closer.

Credence slipped down the wall, hugging his knees and leaning chin against them. He was slightly rocking back and forth, staring into space in front of himself like he wasn´t even aware that Graves was there too. Despite just materializing out of pile of dust, he didn´t seem to be physically hurt, much to Graves relief. But the mental wounds were completely different story and Graves honestly wondered if he was the best person to speak to the poor boy. (He had many skills, but calming kids down somehow didn´t get on the list of requirements of the Director of magical security.)

“Credence,” Graves started, deciding to improvise. “Can you hear me?”

The boy flinched and stopped rocking, but his stare remained fixed on something which wasn´t really there. (At least Graves _hoped_ there wasn´t something invisible between them which only Obscurials could see. One dangerous magical beast at a time was enough for him.)

“It´s going to be all right, I´ll teach you to control your magic. You won´t have to supress it anymore. You could be a part of wizards society, part of _our_ world. I´ll make sure that you get magical education and that you´ll learn to live among wizards, _where you belong_. Everything is going to be all right.”

While talking to Credence, Graves slowly moved towards the boy. He tried to sound enthusiastically (which wasn´t exactly something he did often) and determined (with which he had considerably more experience).

“You´re going to be a wizard, Credence. I´ll take care of-”

“Wizards are evil,” Credence hissed through clenched teeth and Graves stopped at spot.

“No all of them,” he retorted immediately, trying very hard _not to_ think of Grindelwald. “It´s like with all people, you said that yourse-”

“Wizards are monsters!” Credence yelled. To Graves´s horror, he blurred a bit, but fortunately remained in human shape.

It took all Graves´s willpower to appear calm despite everything. He slowly knelt down to get on eye level with Credence, but Credence stubbornly stared into the void. There was something haunted in his dark eyes, something which worried Graves immensely. 

“Credence, look at me.”

No reaction.

“Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for comments and kudos, it´s great to know that you enjoy this story.:)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It took all Graves´s willpower to appear calm despite everything. He slowly knelt down to get on eye level with Credence, but Credence stubbornly stared into the void. There was something haunted in his dark eyes, something which worried Graves immensely. 
> 
> “Credence, look at me. _Please.”_

The darkness slowly submerged, sinking back into Credence´s skin. It felt him feeling exposed, feeling as if there were thousands of eyes pointed at him. He sunk down the wall and pulled his knees to his chest in attempt to make himself look smaller.

“Credence.”

Something in the voice repeating his name was disturbingly persistent. It was still there, calling him, trying to reach to him and Credence fought the urge to cover his ears to muffle it.

“Credence, look at me,” the voice begged. It was deep and familiar, vibrating through Credence´s chest, calming him down. If only it would keep talking, Credence was ready to listen to it for hours. The shivers running down his spine weakened and he managed to raise his head up a bit.

“Credence,” Mr. Graves was kneeling in front of him, one arm outstretched towards Credence. The winkles of worry on his forehead were deeper than Credence remembered and he looked somehow older.

“Mr. Graves,” Credence breathed out through dry lips. His throat was so sore that it almost hurt to speak. 

Ghost of a smile curled Mr. Graves´s lips but it was gone in blink of an eye. The wizard looked worried, honestly worried and Credence wondered what could make such a powerful man, a wizard like Mr. Graves so unsettled.

“Credence,” Mg. Graves spoke softly and leant closer to the crunching boy. “Can you hear me?”

Credence nodded out of reflex before he realized what Mr. Graves was asking. Didn´t he hear him before? Wasn´t he listening? The darkness… it silenced all sounds and left him with roaring noise which drowned everything else. Suddenly very aware of his outburst, Credence hugged his knees and pulled them even closer to his chest. 

He let _the darkness_ out! He didn´t focus enough, he let it take control of him and God knew what the monster did. Why he never told about the darkness to Mr. Graves? Maybe he could have helped him. Maybe this didn´t have to happen and Credence didn´t have to fail again.

“What have I done?” he asked, horrified by the idea of the monster tearing out of his skin.

Mr. Graves resolutely shook his head. “Nothing,” he said determinedly. 

Credence covered his mouth with a hand, muffling the sobs. The darkness was always there, within him, whispering when he felt troubled or scared. How could he forget about it and let it out again? 

“What was _that_?” he asked, his voice breaking at the last word. He was unable to phrase his worries, but Mr. Graves seemed to understand anyway. Sighing, the older wizard let his raised hand fall down and rubbed his head with the other one.

“That was Obscurus,” Mr. Graves said, looking everywhere but on Credence. “It´s my mistake, I should have realized, I should have noticed…” he trailed off, covering his face with his hands.

Credence watched him, his heart hammering in his chest. He felt the panic rising up, and began trembling, the darkness awaking again in him. What had he done, making Mr. Graves this worried? How could he cause even more trouble to a man who was so kind to him? Mr. Graves had enough worries at work, he wasn´t supposed to worry about Credence too. But Credence didn´t know what to do.

“Please,” he moaned and Mr. Graves hastily looked at him again, “ _help me_ …”

Worried look on Mr. Graves´s face was replaced by horror and the wizard jumped to his feet. He rushed towards Credence but the darkness was faster, exploding in boy´s chest and flying up, away from Graves´s reach.

“Credence!”

It wasn´t fair. Why did this have to happen to Credence? Credence didn´t want the darkness to control him, to carry him away from Mr. Graves. He wanted to stay, to launch himself in Graves´s outstretched arms and let the older man hold him and tell him that he would take care of him. Why couldn´t he be safe? Mr. Graves would surely help him, wouldn´t he? But Mr. Graves was telling something and Credence wasn´t listening. That was wrong, he had to listen. He had to obey Mr. Graves to deserve his kindness. He couldn´t just expect the wizard to take care of a random kid like himself for free. He had to listen to Mr. Graves. He had to-

“Credence! Stay here!”

 _Yes!_ Credence wanted to say but didn´t have mouth to speak with. He would stay with Mr. Graves as long as he would be allowed to. He didn´t have to return to Ma. She wouldn´t want him to return anyway. She would be probably glad for getting rid of him. He would stay with Mr. Graves. He would stay and do anything else Mr. Graves would want him to do, just to be allowed into wizards´ world.

“Calm down, Credence,” Mr. Graves said and it sounded desperate and almost like begging. “Please, just calm down. Can you turn into human again? Could you come down here? Come to me, Credence. Please.”

And Credence forced the darkness to descend, because he couldn´t ignore Mr. Graves´s request. He had to obey him to deserve all the kindness Mr. Graves was showing him.

Graves watched in awe as the Obscurus slowly descended in front of him, the slight touch of it carving lines into the floor tiles. The dark mass slowly whirled until it took the shape of a human body, revealing Credence´s form again. Graves felt like rooted into the ground. The whole scene seemed surreal, the Obscurus, mythical Obscurus standing in front of him in form of a hunching boy, who shyly bowed his head and casted quick glances towards Graves.

“It´s… it´s okay,” Graves said, trying to sound confident. He cleared his throat and managed to take a few steps towards Credence. “It´s going to be all right, don´t worry. It´s… ah,” he sighed, shaking his head, “it´s fine, Credence. Come here.”

Credence swayed at his feet and then hesitantly stepped forward. The mere idea of “everything being all right” was so alien to him that he nervously chuckled, but the sound of it died in his throat almost as soon as it began.

“Come here, boy,” Mr. Graves told him and Credence obeyed, stepping forwards the older wizard on unsteady feet. 

He would deserve Mr. Graves´s kindness and disappoint him again by letting the darkness out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot´s moving forward and there´s still no Grindelwald in sight. Muhahahaha.:D


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scene in the subway plus Graves, minus Grindelwald. What´s going to happen...?

The world was swaying with Credence. He tried to keep standing straight, but the dizziness was making it hard to focus. Mr. Graves was standing a few steps from him, with his arms raised up towards Credence and anxious expression on his usually stoic face. Swallowing, Credence moved towards Mr. Graves but was stopped by sharp voice coming from behind.

“Where is it?” 

Credence saw Mr. Graves to flinch under the sound of female voice and he stopped, unsure what was happening.

“Graves!” the woman repeated loudly and marched closer. “Where is Obscurus?!”

Obscurus? Credence thought. That was how Mr. Graves called his darkness before. What did this woman know about it and what did she want to do with his “obscurus” ?  
“Stay there!” Mr. Graves barked over his shoulder. He didn´t let his arms fall and he didn´t turn to the incoming woman, but whole his posture tensed.

“What-?”

Mr. Graves casted her a quick glance over his shoulder: “Seraphina, stay!” he demanded grimly and Credence involuntarily shuddered. He never heard Mr. Graves so serious before and there was something intimidating in the voice of older man.

The woman (witch?) with dark skin and strange turban slowed her pace down until she stopped, more from being surprised by Graves´s behaviour than by his demands. She had same aura of power around her as Graves did and Credence wondered if it was caused by magic they possessed.

“Credence,” Mr. Graves turned back to him and his voice was soft again. “Come here,” he asked and it sounded like a plea. Credence rocked on his heels, unsure what to do. He wanted to obey Mr. Graves but coming closer to him meant coming closer to the woman behind and Credence wasn´t sure he wanted to do that. Every instinct carved by the years spent with Ma was screaming at him to keep away from that woman. That she was dangerous.

“This is it?” the woman asked, staring at Credence with clear wonder. There were men in dark coats rushing towards her, surrounding her like some sort of guard. Credence saw that they all had similar wands like Mr. Graves and that all wands were pointed at him.

“Wands down,” Mr. Graves said falsely calmly. “That´s order!” the intensity of his voice made Credence flinch. Mr. Graves sent him apologetic look, as if felt sorry for startling him, but his face remained gravely serious.

“This is Obscurus?” the woman demanded sharply. The men around her seemed alarmed by the question and they all stared at Credence with a mixture of awe and hostility.

“No!” Graves said, taking a quick, small step towards Credence. “Come,” he whispered towards the boy, quietly enough so the other wizards couldn´t hear.

Credence moved towards him and by a corner of his eye, he saw the woman in turban pull a wand out of her pocket. He froze in spot realizing that she was pointing it at him and Mr. Graves turned around, following Credence´s panicked look.

“Seraphina!” he hissed at the woman, but her face remained hard as stone. “Put it away, you´re scaring him.”

“It´s the Obscurus, right?” she asked, taking a step forward. 

“Stop!” Graves moved with her, stepping between the line of pointed wands and Credence. 

The boy trembled behind his back and Graves wondered how much longer he could manage it without turning into murderous cloud of dust. If he can´t stop Aurors from attacking Credence, the boy would surely lose control again and then Merlin help them, if Obscurus goes loose in the limited space of the subway. How could be Seraphina so stupid? Didn´t she realize the danger they were all in? _It_. She called the Obscurus _it_ while Credence was standing in front of her in his hunched, human form and scared expression in his face. 

“Listen to me, Seraphina,” he pleaded with her ration. “You must trust me with this, _he is not dangerous._ ” He was facing her with palms defensively raised between them, thanking whatever God which was out there for still having the wand in his hand. If Seraphina choses to attack a helpless child, he would defend Credence with all the magic inherited from his ancestors. (Fuck Grindelwald and his obsession with the magical origins, for once, Graves was _glad_ to be pureblood. It was finally good for something.)

Picquery had to see the determination in his eyes, because she hesitated and in the momentary silence, Graves could hear the quiet, ruffling sound he learnt to associate with the Obscurus. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Credence shaking violently, tendrils of black smoke coming out from the edges of his form.

“No,” he breathed out, locking his eyes with Credence, silently begging the boy to last a bit longer. Just a bit longer, until he persuades Picquery to hear him out.

But they were all running out of the time.

“It´s going to change,” Picquery gasped. “Attack!”

Graves snapped his head back to the line of Aurors behind Picquery, who all raised their wands and fired the blasts of magic at Credence. Clenching his jaw, Graves pulled on the reservoir of his own magic, casting a powerful shield between them. Every Auror experience was telling him to dodge, to move away from the fireline, but he gritted his teeth and stayed where he was, deflecting the spells left and right. Credence at least had enough sense to hide behind him, so there was no immediate danger to the boy, not as long as Graves stood between him and Aurors.

After the first attack came to pause, Aurors hesitating when they saw their boss defending the suspected Obscurus. 

“Graves!” Picquery yelled, “move!”

“No!” he yelled back, willing to rather get killed by his own men then to let them hurt Credence. 

Aurors saw the cold determination in his eyes. They knew him. Many of them fought alongside him against the dark wizards. Some owed him life from those fights. Graves took time to look each of them into eyes and none could return his gaze. He wouldn´t move aside. If they wanted to hurt the Obscurus, they´d have to attack him first.

Picquery was chewing on her lips. She saw it now, saw Graves´s determination to protect the Obscurial. And while she didn´t understand it, she realized that she was about to order the Aurors to attack the Director of Magical security.

“Be reasonable, Seraphina,” Graves told her, wand pointed at her and her Aurors. “He´s just a kid, not-”

The shockwave threw him off his feet before he could finish when the Obscurus _exploded_ behind him, filling most of the platform with its dark mass. Graves fell forward and saw Picquery to jump back, her face twisting in focus.

“Attack!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story is slowly reaching its end, it´ll probably take 2-3 more chapter too see the final. Thanks to everyone for comments and kudos, you´re really amazing. I love writing this, it´s great to see someone enjoying my fantasy.:)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina and Newt appear on the scene and nothing goes as expected.

Credence felt the darkness explode in his chest. He turned into the form of black cloud again and crushed though the roof upstairs, trying to escape from the bolts of light hurting him. He heard screaming but it didn´t stop him from launching himself at the shiny barrier covering the subway like a huge cupola. 

Energy of the Obscurus collided with the magical barrier in huge explosion. For a moment it looked like the barrier would hold, but then it shattered and the Obscurus crushed though its remains onto the street behind it.

“Chase it!” Picquery jelled when the Obscurus broke the roof.

“NO!” Graves screamed. He rushed back to his feet and Apparated though the hole in the ceiling to the street above.

The Obscurus was whirling in the place, as if the beast was unsure what to do or where to go. It grew to monstrous size, but before it could bolt, two new people appeared in front of it and the Obscurus froze in the mid-air.

“Credence,” Tina gasped, completely taken aback by the magical force in front of her. After Queenie told them about Credence´s outburst, she and Newt rushed to search for the poor boy so they could find a way of helping him. 

“Take care of them,” Newt told Jacob when he pushed the case into the hands of surprised No-Maj. “Here´s everything you need to know.” He left the case with Jacob and Queenie who worriedly watched as Newt and Tina Apparated.

It didn´t take so much to track the Obscurus down, the destruction it left through the whole city was impossible to overlook. They Apparated from roof to roof, following the path of terror, until they saw the shine of magical bubble above the subway station. 

“Credence,” Tina gasped, covering her mouth with a hand. She couldn´t believe her eyes, Queenie described the Obscurus to her and Newt quickly explained what it was but she would never imagine something like this.

The Obscurus stopped whirling, freezing in the air. It hovered in front of Tina and Newt intimidatingly and the couple of wizards stared at it in awe.

“Well, this is definitely larger specimen than in Sudan,” Newt murmured to himself but Tina ignored him. No matter how bad it was, she had to help Credence. The poor boy didn´t deserve being hunted down like some animal. He was human, an abused child who needed someone to stand for him.

“Hi Credence,” she said, forcing her voice to calmness. “Do you remember me? I´m Tina.” 

The Obscurus moved again, but its whirling was much slower now, somehow peaceful. It didn´t try to attack at least, so Tina decided to count it as small victory.

“Credence!” Graves said from behind, making the Obscurus spin towards him. He was standing close to the hole, wand ready in the hand but it wasn´t pointed at Obscurus. “Calm down, boy. I won´t let anyone to hurt you,” he promised, but his voice was tense and anxious. He didn´t know how much time he had before the Aurors would attack again but Credence´s safety came first. He had to make the boy turn into human form again if he wanted to protect him.

“It´s going to be all right,” he tried. The Obscurus slowly shifted towards him and he could see Tina behind it together with the British wizard with the crazy case. British wizard, who was supposed to be locked in MACUSA _with_ the case. Blinking, Graves turned his attention back to Credence. Scamander would have to wait. At least the case was nowhere to be seen.

“He´s scared,” Newt whispered to Tina. “Try to talk to him, he seemed to react on you before.” 

But she shook her head. It seemed that Mr. Graves was doing same and she didn´t want to distract him or Credence. Hopefully, Mr. Graves could calm the boy down on his own. For some reason, it seemed that Credence was willing to listen to him.

“Come,” she whispered back and grabbed Newt by sleeve of his blue coat. They sneaked by the black cloud of the Obscurus, so they would stand on the same side of it as Graves.

“Please, Credence,” Graves begged and Tina had to supress a gasp. She never heard the Director of Magical security beg for anything. Licking her lips, she decided to try to help him.

“I know that you´re scared,” she spoke up and Graves glared at her, clearly displeased by the interruption but Tina didn´t let that discourage her. “You suffered so much, Credence. But we can help you. Me, Queenie, Mr. Graves. And Newt here, this is Newt,” she pointed to Newt who nervously smiled, clearly unused to being centrum of the attention. “Just stop now. And we will protect you…”

“ _I_ will protect you,” Graves said intently and the Obscurus somehow shrunk. “You can stay with me, I´ll take care of you.”

“Keep talking,” Newt said quietly. “He seems to be listening.”

“Rather distract Picquery down there,” Graves said towards Tina, never tearing his eyes away from the Obscurus. He pointed towards the hole leading to the subway. 

Tina glanced there and saw the Aurors grouping up and drawing their wands. In the middle of them was President Picquery, barking orders. It was apparent that they were going to Apparate to the street level and surround the Obscurus.

“Stay behind,” Tina shouted to Picquery. “You´ll scare him.”

“Goldstein!” President growled. “We need to stop the Obscurus. Prepare for fight.”

“No!” Newt yelled, rushing to Tina´s side. “He´s a child, not some beast to attack. You can´t possibly want to hurt him!”

Instead of replying, Picquery glared at him and then Apparated up. She landed behind Graves and the Aurors quickly followed her, creating a semicircle around the Obscurus. The cloud shrunk away from them, towards Graves who was desperately trying to shield it from them.

“Don´t attack! That´s order,” he snapped at the Aurors.

“It´s monster which tore through half of New York,” Picquery snapped back. “It must be stopped.”

Graves quickly turned to Credence. The Obscurus was slowly growing, but for now, it hung in the air in front of Graves, hesitant. It didn´t seem that Credence was in state to turn back into human, Graves thought. The boy was too scared, he wouldn´t calm down with Picquery calling for his blood less than ten feet from him. There was no other way.

“Credence,” he spoke up intently, his tone same as when giving orders to his Aurors. The Obscurus twisted towards him. Graves took a deep breath and squeezed the wand in his hand, trying to check the positions of the Aurors without breaking eye contact with Credence.

“ _Run._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all kudos and comments, you´re so kind to me.<333 I have enough kudos to make kudos statue. It would have shape of K and huge unicorn on the top.:P


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to AnnieGrindelwald and female_overlord_3, for liking this story and always cheering me with their comments. Thank you!

Graves Apparated to just another alley. He was panting and had to lean against the wall for a moment to catch a breath. After sending Credence running, he didn´t waste time trying to talk some sense into Seraphina. Instead, he left her spitting fire at Tina and the British guy, while he ordered the Aurors to fucking stay where they were (with dubious effect) and Apparated off in hope that he had bigger chances of finding Credence than Picquery did. Hopefully, Tina would be able to hold Picquery off for a while. In the meantime, he had to find Credence. Chances were that panicked boy would run somewhere where he knows it. 

It appeared, that he was right.

“Merlin bless you,” he exhaled, seeing the boy sitting at the ground down the alley. “Here you are.” Rushing forward, Graves practically threw himself on ground next to Credence. “Are you all right?”

Credence shrugged, hiding his face into the crook of his elbow. He was curled against the wall with knees pulled to his chest. His head was down and dark hair was covering his face so Graves couldn´t see boy´s reaction, but Credence at least didn´t turn into Obscurus again.

“Credence?” he tried again, not daring to touch the boy and startle him. “Don´t worry, it´s going to be all right. I´m here with you. Credence?”

The boy slowly shifted and then raised his head to shyly look at Graves. He seemed to be afraid and Graves had to control the impulse to take the boy in his arms and comfort him. Instead, he moved to sit next to Credence and slowly exhaled, allowing himself to feel some hope that the things would end well despite everything. It was no wonder that Credence was anxious after everything he went through (especially after what he went through today). 

“So,” Graves started, unsure what to say, but knowing that he probably should talk to Credence to calm him down. “Obscurus. Did you know about it?”

Credence shook his head.

“Well.” Sighing, Graves titled his head back and looked up to the dark sky. It was still night, but the sky was already turning lighter in the first signs of the morning coming. “Umm… so, you agreed to move away from your mother-” Graves paused, considering how to continue and Credence nervously glanced at him. “I hope that you still want to stay with me, after… you know,” he waved his hand around, “after everything.”

“You still want me to stay with you?” Credence asked, sounding as if he couldn´t possibly imagine why would Graves want to live with a murderous magical cloud (or why would anyone in their right mind want to do that). Thinking about it, Graves had to admit that it probably wasn´t the wisest think to do (but he didn´t see any other options so he decided to play dirty).

“Would you rather return to your Ma?” he asked, crossing fingers in his coat´s pocket. As expected, Credence´s expression turned to a one of sheer horror. Wordlessly, the boy shook his head. Graves grinned probably a bit more happily than was appropriate in the situation. “Very well. In that case, we should probably get going.” He contently rubbed his hands and got up. “Come. I´ll take you to my place and then I´ll take care of the Obscurus business.”

Credence hastily rushed to his feet. He didn´t want to be a nuisance to Mr. Graves and waste his time. Why the wizard still wanted to take care about him was a mystery to Credence, but he was too selfish to refuse the offer. Ma would be so disappointed if she saw him now. He was following a wizard into his lair and he was unhealthily happy about it. Ma would beat the sinful happiness out of him if she was there but she wasn´t and that thought somehow comforted Credence.

“Take a hold. It´ll be easier to Apparate,” Graves offered and Credence shyly took his hand. _Let´s hope that magic of Apparating won´t trigger off the Obscurus_ , Graves thought and squeezed Credence´s palm in his own. “Let´s go.”

He Apparated them to the door of his apartment. It was in one of the few strictly magical streets in the New York, so Graves didn´t have to worry about coming home in nonmagical way. At the days like this (or anytime when he was dragging himself home after a rough day at work), it appeared to be incredibly convenient. 

“It wasn´t that bad,” Graves commented. This time, Credence didn´t lose the balance and he didn´t turn as green as previously. He still held Graves´s hand for support, but he managed to keep standing straight. “Give me a second,” Graves told him and pulled a wand out of his pocket to unlock the door. There were many wards to keep his apartment safe and Graves didn´t want Credence to get attacked by any of them. One slow wave of the wand took care of all of that.

“Is it how all wizards unlock their door?” Credence wondered aloud. Maybe he was still nervous but even in his foul mood, he couldn´t stop himself from being amazed by the display of magic.

“Some use keys,” Graves said, shrugging. “But my door was locked with magic, so it had to be unlocked with magic too. Come in.” He opened the door for Credence and let the boy come first.

Credence looked awestruck, as if he entered a palace covered with gold and with live peacocks walking around instead of casually looking apartment. The furniture looked elegant despite it was simple and lacked any signs of owner´s taste. Except of a few old family photos, there were no personal belongings but to Credence it still looked like the most beautiful place in the world.

He abruptly stopped at the threshold of the living room, not wanting to step on expensive carpet. Graves almost bumped into him from behind, but he stopped in time and placed a hand on boy´s shoulder.

“Is everything all right?”

“It´s…” Credence gestured around, not sure how to describe his feelings. _Too posh? Too clean? Too overwhelming for a poor orphan who spent his life in church wearing modest clothes which probably cost less than the cushions on the couch?_

“It´s all right,” Graves soothed him, gently squeezing his shoulder. “Why don´t you sit down? I´ll make you coffee. Or rather tea, it´s a bit late for coffee.”

Nodding, Credence carefully moved to the couch, trying not to get anything dirty. His clothes were still covered with the dust and rubble from the subway station so he kept standing next to the couch while Mr. Graves went presumably to the kitchen. Credence nervously looked around, his eyes widening when he saw the photos moving. He unconsciously sunk down on the couch, finally realizing that he was living his Ma´s worst nightmare – he was alone in the wizard´s lair while the said wizard was preparing God knows what tea for him. 

And while Credence cared for Mr. Graves probably more than he cared for himself, he secretly prayed that the tea wouldn´t be made of the frogs or something like that, because he wouldn´t be able to drink it, not even for Mr. Graves.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graves found Credence after the subway incident and took the boy to his house. And while he think they´re safe from Picquery and the Aurors for a while, there´re still some things they need to talk about.

In the end, the tea appeared to be unexpectedly ordinary. Credence carefully took the porcelain cup from Mr. Graves and suspiciously eyed the contents, even sniffing it, but it seemed to be just tea.

“Would you like some milk? Or sugar?” Mr. Graves asked, misreading Credence´s hesitance to drink, so Credence quickly shook his head and took a sip. It tasted like tea.

“Tha-thanks,” he said, choking a bit under Mr. Graves´s concerned stare. “It´s good, thank you.”

“You´re welcome,” Mr. Graves retorted gently. He sat on the other end of the couch, as far from Credence as possible to avoid making the boy feeling cornered. There was a similar cup of tea in his hand and he looked in it as if it held the answers to all the unspoken questions. (How the hell was he supposed to manage this all? Obscurus, Seraphina, if Grindelwald chose tonight to knock on his door and declare MACUSA war, it would be just a frosting on the cake.) Graves tilted his head to side, listening for any sign that someone was at the door, but he heard nothing.

“Mr. Graves?” Credence spoke up suddenly, startling Graves out of his thoughts. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course, my boy. Ask anything.”

“Did you mean it?” Credence asked, nervously biting on his lower lip. There was something fragile about the way he was hunching over the teacup and Graves sighed, feeling that he might not be the best person to comfort the boy right now. After all, he was never good in comforting.

“What?”

“What you said before.” It seemed that the question mattered to Credence, but he was losing courage to ask it as he was talking, his voice turning lower and lower with every word. At the end of the sentence, he was practically whispering, his eyes locked to the rug under the coffee table.

“I try to mean everything I say,” Graves retorted carefully, unsure what Credence meant. “What do you have on mind?”

Credence was turning the cup around in his fingers, seemingly fascinated by the tea inside. Even when he spoke up again, he didn´t tear his eyes from it and Graves had to lean forward a bit so he would hear him better. 

“That I don´t have to go back to Ma,” Credence said quietly and worry in his voice almost made Graves´s heart break.

“Of course, Credence,” he said, reaching out to hold Credence´s hand. “You don´t have to go back to her. Actually,” he added, trying to bring more determination into his voice, “I´d be very glad if you chose not to go back to her. That woman was treating you badly for years. I want you to be safe and happy and-” (away from that hellish bitch) “-and just to be all right,” he finished clumsily, stopping himself from cursing in the last moment.

It didn´t see like Credence minded cheesy words thou, as the boy literary brightened up when he heard them. Graves could swear he even saw a tiny smile curling the corners of Credence´s lips upwards.

“So,” Graves started, taking a deep breath, “do you want to stay with me? At least for now,” he added, not wanting to pressure Credence too much too early.

“Won´t the others mind?” Credence asked timidly. “I mean, the wizards from the subway, they seemed to dislike the… you know. Obscurus.”

That was tricky question. The honest answer would be that yes, Aurors on the top with Seraphina _would_ mind that, but Graves didn´t want to worry Credence with the harsh truth. It would probably take a lot of negotiation (and maybe some threatening) to make the president reconsider her overreaction about the Obscurial, but MACUSA was known for taking dangers extremely seriously. With Grindelwald breaking the hell out in Europe, Graves couldn´t really blame them for panicking over Obscurus, but he definitely wasn´t going to let them hurt Credence just because they were afraid of him.

“It´ll take some time until they accept what you are,” he said eventually, carefully choosing the words. “The Obscurus is… dangerous. But it´s not your fault,” he added quickly. “It´s magical parasite feeding on your supressed magic. It caused a lot of damage in New York, but that´s not something you could have affected.”

“But if I controlled it better-”

“Controlled?” Graves exclaimed. “My boy, you can´t control Obscurus! And especially not Obscurus as huge as this one. It´s extremely strong, as far as I saw. It´s a miracle that you managed to live with it for so long. It shows how strong you are too. But the Obscurus is still a magical parasite, no matter what and you can´t fully control it.”

“Then how can I live with it?” Credence asked, panic seeping into his voice. Hesitating, Graves looked at him and saw the tendrils of black smoke forming at the openings of Credence´s sleeves. It worried Graves but it also gave him an idea.

“It mostly manifests itself when you´re under pressure, right?”

Credence nodded.

“Then we could start with helping you relax and calm down. If you don´t worry that much, the Obscurus will have less reasons to show up. Also, it could help if you learnt to use magic, if your magic wasn´t supressed anymore, it would probably weaken the Obscurus and help you. As far as I know, you´re probably the oldest knows Obscurial, Obscurus´s host, which suggests that your magic is very strong and maybe you could actually gain some control over the Obscurus. Back in the subway, you seemed to have some power over it, which is pretty amazing.” Graves paused, rubbing his chin. “Yes, you could probably learn to control it. That would help a lot.”

“I can learn magic?” Credence asked in voice so hopeful that Graves had to wonder if the boy even heard anything after learning the magic part. There was light in Credence´s eyes that rarely showed up and whole posture of the boy changed. He was leaning forward Graves, his shyness forgotten in the sake of the idea of learning magic.

“I think that it would be the best if you tried that,” Graves retorted with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the longers chapter I´ve ever wrote, but I was busy. And I guess that it´s better to have shorter chapters more often that one long one per month. What do you think?


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Credence is safe for now with Mr. Graves, but for how long? Will Picquery continue the chase, or would Newt and Tina manage to persuade her to leave the Obscurus alone?

“Good boy, good boy,” Newt repeated, petting the Thunderbird as if it was a kitten. The destruction caused by the Obscurus was beyond the capabilities of Aurors to hide it, so he offered them help. Thanks to Swooping Evil´s venom and Frank´s cooperation, whole city was soon covered by obliviating rain.

“It seems to be working,” one of the Aurors said to madam President behind Newt´s back and the British wizard sighed in relief. Without wiping the memories of entire New York, the local magical community would be fully exposed after today.

“Thanks Merlin,” Picquery replied. “But send some Obliviators to New Salemers´ church. I want to be completely sure that they won´t remember any magic.”

“Yes, madam.”

“Will it work?” someone asked next to Newt, making the Brit to flinch. 

“Wha-? Oh, yes, yes, it will,” he said, surprised to see Tina. He thought that she would join other Aurors in the efforts to repair the city, but she came to him instead, despite casting nervous glances at Frank.

“Can´t believe it was real Obscurus. Isn´t that crazy?” she wondered aloud. Newt wasn´t sure if he was supposed to answer that, so he just shrugged and kept petting the Thunderbird. “It´s wonderful that you were capable to help,” Tina added and he quickly smiled at her.

“I´m glad I could do something.”

“Your aid is definitely appreciated, Mr. Scamander,” said Picquery behind him and Newt and Tina both turned to her, startled by her sudden approach.

“Madam,” Tina saluted her, but Picquery only nodded her head towards her and then turned to Newt.

“Considering… everything, I think that your own offences could be wiped up too,” she said. “In the end, it wasn´t your beast attacking the city, after all. But make sure to keep everything else in the case, will you?”

“Of course,” Newt said quickly. “I can assure you that none of them is-”

“Dangerous,” Picquery finished before he could. “Yes, I´m certain that you think so. But my concerns are over this city, not over your fondness towards monsters, Mr. Scamander.” The ice in her voice made him shudder. “So please, make sure that none of them escapes again.”

Newt opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to say. In the end, he only muttered “yes, madam,” nervously staring at Picquery´s boots. When she left, he almost dropped the case in relief.

“Shouldn´t we talk to her about the Obscurus?” Tina asked.

Shrugging, Newt laid the case on the ground and opened it so Frank could return back to his habitat. “I´m not sure this is the best time,” he said. “Let the Aurors finish the repairs. When she sees that the damage was successfully fixed, she would be more willing to let the Obscurus live.”

“You won´t let her hurt Credence, right?” 

Newt glanced at Tina, alarmed by tension in her voice. Something in her eyes made him nod unconsciously. “Of course,” he said. “They´re not hurting him, Tina. I promise.” It seemed to calm her a bit, despite her expression didn´t relax much.

“I have to go home and repair our apartment,” she said. “Queenie told me that the Obscurus crushed through the wall when it – he – was escaping. What about we met at Jacob´s place later? He´s a No-Maj, so no one will look for us there. Plus, president rather shouldn´t notice him, or she would want him obliviated too.”

“Of course. I´ll take Jacob to his place and then we can discuss how to help Credence.”

With a bright smile, Tina offered Newt a hand and he hesitantly shook it. “We´ll manage this, somehow,” she said confidently. “We caught Occamy in teapot, after all. They´re nothing we can´t handle together.”

Newt couldn´t supress a smile. Something about Tina´s enthusiasm was contagious and he caught himself feeling unusually hopeful. It was a wonder, considering his previous encounter with Obscurus. There was no way things would go easily. Even if they managed to persuade MACUSA to leave Credence alone, the boy would be still possessed by a magical parasite. And Newt already knew that separating the Obscurus from its host was close to impossible. But he was determined to try and do everything in his powers to save the poor boy.

“We´ll find a way to help him,” he told Tina. She nodded her head and Apparated away, supposedly to fix the Obscurus-caused damage in her apartment. 

Looking around, Newt carefully picked up his case and sneaked away, before any of Aurors could question his competence to take care of his beasts. At least the president agreed to withdraw the charges, he thought. 

Behind the corner, Queenie and Jacob were impatiently waiting for him and visibly cheered up after seeing him.

“Oh, what a relief,” Queenie said when he came closer. 

“Did it go well?” Jacob asked nervously.

“Yes,” Queenie responded before Newt could, squeezing Jacob´s forearm. “Oh, sorry, Newt,” she added quickly. “I haven´t realized…”

“Nevermind,” he said softly. “The president said that I can keep the case and that they cancel the arrest.”

Jacob laughed and patted Newt´s back. “That´s great news!” Next to him, Queenie quickly nodded.

“Yes. Tina said that we should go to Jacob´s apartment-”

“No one would look for us there!” Queenie exclaimed. “Great idea. When we talk about Tina, where is she?”

Newt nervously shifted from one foot to other. The way Queenie kept responding to his thoughts was slowly starting to freak him up. But he decided to remain polite, as he was too shy to complain. “She went to repair your apartment,” he said. “She´ll come to Jacob´s place later to catch up with us.”

“Do you have any idea where Credence could go?” Queenie asked but Newt only shook his head.

“He looked panicked. He just flied away, to escape Aurors´s attacks. There´s no way to tell where a scared Obscurus might go.”

“All right.” Rubbing her palms, Queenie moved to stand between the men. “Let´s go, shall we?” Newt and Jacob both nodded and took her offered hands, allowing the blond witch to Apparate them to the street she saw in Jacob´s mind when he thought about his home.

After an uncomfortable moment, they reappeared in front of fire stairs behind the building in which Jacob lived. Without any paranoid landlady around, they managed to get up quickly and soon, the trio stood in the tiny flat.

“I didn´t have time to clean up after Newt´s beasts escaped,” Jacob apologized quickly. “It-it´s not this bad, usually.”

“Oh, honey, don´t worry about it,” Queenie said sweetly. Taking a deep breath, she looked around and then went to sit on Jacob´s bed (for the lack of any other place to sit). “It´s… homey,” she said with the smallest of hesitation.

“Well,” Newt went to place his case on the floor. “It´s been a long night and I need to check that everyone is all right. If you want, you can come with me,” he added. 

“Of course!” Queenie exclaimed. “We´d love to help, right Jacob? Yes, Jacob agrees.”

Jacob only nervously chuckled and nodded his head. “Let´s do it,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be probably the last one. Thank you so much for sticking with this story. Your comments and kudos meant so much to me.<333


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It´s time to sum it all up. Will be Credence allowed to live in peace, or will MACUSA try to destroy him for any cost?

It took a lot of negotiations (read: begging, threatening and persuading) to make MACUSA agree to leave Credence alone. Well, not actually alone, as he was still considered a danger to New York, but Graves happily took the obligation of watching over the Obscurus. After all, he seemed to have some sort of influence over Credence. The fact that he was also an exceptionally powerful wizard was a welcomed bonus.

Graves shamelessly used that as another argument.

“Make sure to report every day,” Seraphina told him, frowning at her old ally over her desk. “ _Every_ day. I´m serious, Percival.”

He rolled his eyes over her. “I´ve heard you the first eight times, Seraphina. Daily reports. Controls three times a week. Cooperation with Mr. Scamander to study the Obscurus. I know.”

“I want to make sure that you´re taking it seriously enough,” she said. “Don´t think I´m blind, Percival. I noticed that you have a soft spot for the Obscurial.”

“His name is Credence, you know?”

“That´s my point.” She put her elbows on the desk and leant forward. “Don´t let that fondness to get better of your judgement. The boy is dangerous. He destroyed half of New York, for Merlin´s sake! You should never let your guards down around him.”

Or what? He´ll initiate _eye contact?_ Graves thought sarcastically. He understood Seraphina´s caution, but the idea of being _afraid of Credence_ was so utterly absurd that he had to bite the inside of his cheek to suppress a smile. 

“I´m taking it seriously,” he told to Picquery. “Trust me, Seraphina.”

She leant back in her seat and intently watched him. “I´ve always trusted you, Percival. Don´t disappoint me now.”

Shaking his head, Graves got up and headed to the door. Despite he understood Seraphina´s caution, he also knew that Credence didn´t want to hurt anyone and that it was Obscurus destroying New York, not Credence. The Obscurus, parasite feeding on the magic of the poor boy. That was reason to help Credence, not to fear him.

“How did it go?” someone asked the moment he closed the door of President´s office and Graves flinched, startled out of his thoughts. He had one hand on the wand in his pocket before he realized that it was Tina, who was talking to him.

“You should know, considering that you were eavesdropping, Goldstein,” he said sternly. Tina blushed and nervously fidgeted.

“I wasn´t.” They eyes met and Tina blushed even more. “Okay, I tried but the door is charmed against it so I couldn´t hear anything.”

“At least you´re honest,” Graves sighed. “And it went rather well, by the way. I´ll have to report only like million times a day to let the President know that the Obscurus hadn´t eaten me alive yet. Otherwise, it could have been worse, I guess.”

He could literary see Tina exhale in relief. She beamed a bright smile and rocked back and forth as if struggling to stop herself from hugging him. Graves rolled his eyes.

“If you must-” he opened his arms, beckoning Tina to go for it. Before he could change his mind, she threw herself around his neck and squeezed the air out of him. “Ouch!”

“Sorry, sir!” Hastily pulling away, Tina stuffed both hands into her pockets. “I´m just… really happy that Credence will be left alone.”

“And under nonstop surveillance.”

“But they won´t hurt him at least!”

“They?” Graves frowned at her until she had to avert her eyes and focus on her boots instead. “Since when is MASUCA _them_?” he demanded. “The last time I checked, both of us were working here too.”

“But we don´t want to hurt Credence and some other Aurors do,” Tina tried. That was something Graves couldn´t really argue with.

“Then let´s persuade those other Aurors that Credence can learn to control the Obscurus,” he suggested. “Or we can try to weaken it and then get rid of it. Did you talk with that creepy Brit of yours?”

“You mean Newt?”

Graves raised his eyebrows. “Newt?”

Tina blushed. “I meant Mr. Scamander.”

“Newt.”

“Yes.”

Nodding, Graves decided to let it go. It wasn´t his place to judge who Tina made friends with in her free time. Through something was telling him that she didn´t think of Newt only as about a friend. (But again, no place to judge others, considering his “soft spot” for Credence, like Seraphina called it.) He cleared his throat and gestured to Tina to go.

“Back to work, Goldstein.”

“Yes, sir.”

They parted their ways, Tina heading back to the Magical Security, while Graves turned to the elevators. During the meeting with Seraphina, he left Credence home alone (with dozen of Aurors watching over him) and he couldn´t wait to be with boy again. 

As soon as Graves left the Woolworth building, he Apparated back to his apartment and sent Credence´s guards away. Finally alone, he let out a deep breath and collapsed on the couch.

“If everything all right?” Credence asked nervously, standing over the opposite end of the couch.

“Yes. Or at least, it´s going to be. It´ll just take some time to adjust everything.”

“Okay.” Credence didn´t seem like he understood what Graves meant, but he wasn´t used to pry. “If you want, I can cook something,” he suggested, trying to be useful to Mr. Graves.

Graves shook his head. “I´ll magic something up later.” 

Credence´s face fell a bit. Since he moved in with Mr. Graves (moved in with Mr. Graves!), he tried to be somehow useful to the wizard, but it started to look to him that everything in wizardly household worked on its own (or rather, on magic) and there was no need for him to help with anything. After the meal, Mr. Graves simply waved his wand and the plates washed on their own, they either ate takeaways or Mr. Graves quickly cooked something with a few spells… to Credence, who was used to work hard every day, it felt disturbing to have nothing to do. He wasn´t even allowed to wash his old clothes after the subway debacle. Instead, Mr. Graves decided that the clothes were too damaged by the rubble (and age) and they need to be thrown away. As replacement, Credence got a change of Mr. Graves´s less formal clothes which were charmed to fit his size. “It´s only temporary,” Mr. Graves said after giving them to Credence, sounding like he wasn´t satisfied with the shrinking spell, but to Credence, those were the nicest clothes he ever got to wear (or to touch at all). 

“What´s up?” Mr. Graves asked, pulling Credence out of his thoughts. 

“You´re so kind to me,” Credence said, pulling on the edge of his new shirt. “I have no way to repay you-”

“Repay? You don´t have to repay me for anything, Credence,” Mr. Graves interrupted him. He got up and walked to Credence, who nervously hung his head down. “My boy, you don´t owe me anything. I´m glad to take care of you.”

Credence couldn´t agree with the non-owning part, but he would never argue with Mr. Graves. Instead, he just stared at his own boots, so when Mr. Graves slipped a hand under his chin, it took Credence completely by surprise.

“Look at me,” Mr. Graves asked softly. It was so different than how people normally talked to Credence. Mr. Graves didn´t tell him off, or order him around. He didn´t demand Credence´s attention despite he had every right to do so. Instead, he simply asked, patiently waiting for Credence to respond.

Sighing, Credence raised his head, shyly looking at the older man.

“I care for you, Credence,” Graves said. “You don´t have to try to make up for what I do for you. I didn´t ask you to move here to get a help with chores, but to help you, okay?”

The concept of someone simply, unconditionally caring for him was something Credence still had to get used to, but it made him feel somehow lighter, as if the burden of the Obscurus was lifted off his shoulder a bit. 

“Yes,” he said quietly, with a small smile which Mr. Graves widely returned. Smiling made him look different, Credence noticed. Younger and less serious. The spark in Graves´s eyes was contagious and Credence´s own smile widened too. 

Standing this close to Mr. Graves made Credence´s heart beat faster. The presence of the other man woke something in Credence up, something different than fear or Obscurus´s anger. This feeling was warm, and yet as overwhelming as losing control over his inner monster and that made Credence nervous. He wasn´t sure what this new, intense, burning sensation was. It prompted him to lean into Mr. Graves´s touch, to prolong the contact and to make it more intimate. If his Ma was around, she would say that he would burn in hell for his sinful urges. 

But she wasn´t there, she would never be there again. Credence didn´t have to follow her rules anymore and his soul was probably going to end in the hell anyway, for being possessed by the Obscurus and destroying half of the city.

“Credence?” Mr. Graves´s voice pulled the boy out of his thoughts. Blinking, Credence focused on the wizard in front of him, who was curiously eyeing him. “Penny for your thoughts?” 

Unconsciously, Credence´s lips curled into smile. Before he realized what he was doing, he leant forward and pressed his mouth to Graves´s.

“Wha-?”

“Oh!” Credence jerked back, rubbing his face with palms. “I´m sorry, I´m so sorry…” he was at loss of the words. How could he allow the lust to poses him? Mr. Graves would be surely disgusted with him and he would send him back to Ma. “Oh…” 

“Wait, Credence-”

But Credence was already backing away from Mr. Graves. There was no way the wizard would forgive him for something like this. He would go to hell and he would go there alone! Or worse, with Ma! Dark tendrils of the smoke surrounded Credence.

“NO!” Mr. Graves yelled so aloud that Credence flinched and bumped his back into the wall. The older wizard was staring at him with mixture of panic and unbelief in his face and Credence felt on the edge of crying. “Goddammit, Credence. Could you NOT turn into that fucking dust cloud again? Please?”

Hearing Mr. Graves swear surprised Credence so much that he momentarily forgot about destroying his life. He stood at the place, staring at Mr. Graves in confusion until the wizard walked to him and caught his wrists.

“Calm down, Credence,” he reasoned. “Everything´s going to be all right. Just calm down.”

“No, it won´t,” Credence said, shaking his head. “I messed it up. I´m so sorry. Please don´t be angry with me.”

“Why would I be angry?”

“For I´m abomination-”

“Oh, should up!” 

“I want you like I shouldn´t!” Credence raised his voice too. “I-I´ve never felt this to anyone, but I do now and you must be so disgusted with me and you have every right to just send me away and-”

Credence was forced to abruptly stop when Mr. Graves kissed him. It wasn´t gentle nor nice but it served the purpose and silenced Credence´s outburst. 

Slowly, Graves pulled back. He took a shaky breath, still holding Credence´s wrists and he looked at the boy as if he half expected him to turn into Obscurus there and then. It was the last thing Credence thought of.

Not knowing what to say (but knowing that he should say something), Graves carefully leant closer and kissed Credence again, slower this time. Unlike before, it was an actual kiss, soft and caring and it lit up a flame in Credence´s chest, making him to eagerly reciprocate. 

“I´m not sending you anyway,” Mr. Graves breathed out when they finally pulled apart. “And I´m definitely not disgusted by you or anything. There´s no need to apologize for what you´re feeling.”

“I´m not sure what I´m feeling,” Credence confessed shyly. With his age and upbringing, he hadn´t have any chance to experience this kind of feelings. It was as new to him as learning magic.

“That´s okay,” Graves said. “I´m not sure what I´m doing either.” He let go of Credence and took a step back. 

“Are you mad?” Credence asked nervously but Graves shook his head.

“No. Not at all. I could be never mad at you.”

“But I…” Credence paused, unsure how to say _but I kissed you._

“No buts,” Mr. Graves said resolutely. “I´m not mad. Do you want dinner?”

“What?” 

The question was so irrelevant in that moment, that Credence wasn´t sure if he heard Mr. Graves right.

“Are you hungry?” Graves asked a bit louder. “You know what? I´ll just make something.” He turned on his heel, rushing to kitchen and leaving Credence standing in the middle of the living room, completely baffled. 

“What?”

Shaking his head, Credence tried to grasp the situation. He forced his body to move and followed Mr. Graves to kitchen. 

“What?” he demanded again, so taken aback that he had no idea how to phrase his concerns.

“I´ll make the soup and then some mashed potatoes with chicken, okay?” Mr. Graves asked over his shoulder, already waving a wand above an empty pot. “You like chicken, right?” There was something terribly wrong with his voice, which made Credence shudder. It was higher and sharper than usually, too focused, too impersonal. He shook his head.

“No.”

“No?” Mr. Graves stopped, turning to Credence in surprise. “I thought that everyone likes chicken.”

“No,” Credence shook his head again. “I didn´t mean it like that. I mean, why are you making dinner?”

Graves´s raised his eyebrow. “Because it´s the time for it?”

“But!” Credence opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, feeling lost. One moment Mr. Graves was kissing him and the next one, he´s making soups and talks about chickens. (That´s the point. He _did_ kiss Credence.) “Why did you kiss me?”

“I´m sorry about it,” Mr. Graves said quietly. “It wasn´t right and I wasn´t supposed to-”

“But you said you´re not disgusted with me.”

“I´m not!”

Credence spread his arm in helpless gesture. “Then I don´t get it.” He watched as Mr. Graves sighed and put the spoon away.

“I´m too old for you, Credence,” the wizard said after a pause. “You deserve better.”

“But I want you!” Credence exclaimed and the next moment, he slapped a hand over his mouth but it was too late. The words were already out. (The words he had no idea were in him, words he had no idea he was even capable of saying aloud.) It was out.

Mr. Graves half smiled. “You´re so young, Credence. Whole life is in front of you.”

Shrugging, Credence looked at the floor when he spoke up again. “Before I met you, I had no life.”

“But you do now,” Mr. Graves said and it sounded like refusal to Credence. (And refusal was something Credence knew very well.)

“You said ´no buts´,” he whispered, making Mr. Graves chuckle humourlessly. 

He watched Credence struggling with his thoughts. It was somehow endearing how the boy didn´t know to phrase his feelings. But it also reminded Graves how young and inexperienced Credence truly was.

“I´m too old for you anyway,” he said eventually, turning back to the stove.

“If I was older, would you want me?” Credence asked shyly.

“It´s not that I don´t want you,” Graves sighed. He heard Credence hesitantly step forward but didn´t turn until he felt boy´s hand touch his shoulder. “I just want the best for you,” he said, still facing away from Credence. “I´m not the best.”

“What could be better?” Credence wondered with honestly which made Grave´s heart ache. The hand on Grave´s shoulder gently squeezed until he turned around.

Graves shrugged. “I don´t know,” he admitted. “But I´m not the best match. You´re young, talented, you have whole life in front of you, you have time to find someone.”

Swallowing, Credence leant in and carefully placed his lips on Graves´s. It wasn´t a kiss, just a mere touch of lips but tenderness of it felt incredibly intimate.

“I´m possessed by a magical beast which could kill me any time,” Credence said quietly. “I don´t know anything about magic, or about anything which matters to wizards. I´m poor and useless and weird. No one ever looked at me like you do, as if I mattered, somehow. If there´s someone better than you, I don´t want them. I only need you.”

Unconsciously, Graves leant closer until their foreheads touched. He slipped a hand around Credence´s waist to pull him closer. “Don´t talk about yourself like this.”

“But it´s true.”

“You´re not useless or weird. In fact, you´re amazing.”

“But too young for you,” Credence said bitterly.

“Relatively,” Graves agreed. “But you´re also the oldest known Obscurial, so…” he chuckled, pulling Credence into his arm. 

“So you like me?”

“Of course I do.”

“I mean really like,” Credence clarified.

“I really do.”

“But I´m too young for you.”

“Well, maybe.” Graves sighed and pulled away to look into Credence´s eyes. “Do you mind?” The boy shook his head without a second of hesitation and Graves smiled.

“Then maybe we could try it out.”

“Try what?”

“This.” Graves leant down and kissed Credence, truly kissed with all the care and passion and it made Credence´s head spin so hard that he had to hold on Graves. 

But he didn´t mind and kissed Mr. Graves back with all the sinful lust he had, because Mr. Graves truly cared for him and Credence wanted to show him that he cared too.

\- The end -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last and the longest chapter for you all. Thank you for sticking with the story all this time, your comments and kudos made writing this wonderful experience for me.
> 
> Btw, this chapter didn´t want to end.:) More and more words just kept coming, especially when Credence and Graves talked in the end. I guess I´ll have to write a sequel to make it really finished. What do you think? Should I continue Graves/Credence´s story?


	24. Author's note

This story in now part of series Tales of Obscurus. You can move to next story of the series by clicking on "Next work" somewhere in the lower part of the screen. This is my first story series, so I hope that I did the settings correctly. If you think that anything can be fixed/improved, I'll be grateful for any suggestions.

Thank you all for reading.<33


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